Readers Choice: Harry and Ginny
by Kurinoone
Summary: Oneshots dedicated to the relationship of Harry and Ginny. Based on the DP Trilogy.
1. The Proposal

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Wetboy's Request - _I'd really like to see some oneshots of Harry and Ginny like, _

_Harry asking Ginny to marry him when they're older and them discussing it._

Dedicated to Wetboy, who asked for Harry and Ginny in nearly every review!! :) This is for you, hope you like it.

**An Unusual Proposal**

The rain hit the windows gently, tapping against the glass. It was a typical Saturday in September; cold, wet and dull. The rain hadn't stopped all day. Harry watched the downpour, his emerald eyes narrowed at the grey cloudy sky. He must have been staring at the window for more than a few minutes when a voice broke through his trance.

"Harry? Harry?"

Harry looked around at Hermione and realised she along with the other three were staring at him.

"What?" he asked, mentally cursing himself for being distracted.

"What were you staring at?" Hermione asked, glancing in the direction of the window.

Harry's eyes swept past Hermione and landed on an amused looking Ginny. He quickly looked away, shifting to sit up properly.

"Nothing," he replied, "just watching the rain."

"Are we boring you, Harry?" Ron asked with a smirk.

"A little, yeah." Harry answered, honestly.

"Thanks!" Damien grinned sarcastically. "Should we just go and let you stare into space?" he joked.

Harry smiled abashedly, running a hand through his hair. It wasn't very good manners after all, inviting your friends and brother to your house and then ignoring them.

"Maybe a change of topic would be better." He replied.

Damien pursed his lips at Harry.

"You know how excited I am to be covering the Falmouth Falcons! It's my first proper project!" Damien told him. "You could at least pretend to care."

Harry did care, but at the moment his mind was preoccupied. Harry took a moment to study his younger brother, now 19 years old, had landed his dream job as a sports writer and he wouldn't stop talking about it.

"Alright, I'll pretend to care." Harry teased. "What were you blubbering on about?"

Damien narrowed his hazel eyes at him.

"You would think I wouldn't tell you since you're being sarcastic," Damien started, "but I'm going to tell you anyway."

Ginny and Hermione giggled at the boys.

"You would like the Falmouth Falcons." Ron told Harry. "Their motto, '_let us win, but if we cannot win, let us break a few heads_' sounds very much like something you would say."

Harry grinned at Ron.

"I'm starting to like them already." He said.

"Maybe you should take Harry with you when you go to interview them," Ginny suggested to Damien. "I can just see them getting along."

"It won't be long before I'm covering The Holyhead Harpies," Damien grinned. "I'll bring Harry along then too, shall I?"

"You could," Ginny replied, "but I'll probably be too busy to talk to commoners." She teased, waving a hand distractedly in Damien and Harry's direction.

"Too right!" Ron added, with a proud nod in his sister's direction. "You have to jump through hoops to interview the _star_ player of Holyhead Harpies."

Ginny blushed a little at her brother's praise.

"That was only in one report, Ronald." She defended modestly.

"Rubbish!" Ron said. "You were quoted as the 'star' player in more than one. Besides you are one!"

Ginny smiled again and ducked her head. She discreetly looked over at Harry. Her eyes found his and saw he was staring at her. He hadn't said anything to her when she had told him she wanted to play Quidditch professionally but Ginny knew Harry didn't approve completely. He had told her she could do whatever made her happy and she knew Harry would always stand by her and her decisions, but she also knew that Harry was secretly hoping she would do something else other than 'chase a ball around'. But Ginny was glad she had gone to Holyhead Harpies. She loved every second of it.

"You should be proud," Hermione told her, taking over from her fiancé, "You've been noticed and pointed out. That's pretty amazing for someone who just turned 21 a few weeks ago." Hermione beamed.

"What can I say?" Ginny smiled. "I'm just gifted." She joked.

Suddenly Harry shifted and moved so he was sitting on the edge of his seat, leaning towards Ginny.

"Alright, _star_ Weasley," he said quietly to her, "Let's see what all the fuss is about. How about a game?"

Ginny saw the playful glint in his eyes and the half smirk on his lips. She turned to look out of the window.

"Now? It's raining." She asked, confused. Harry didn't play Quidditch all that often and definitely not when it was wet.

Harry's green eyes glanced out of the window again before he looked back at her.

"Afraid of a little rain?" he challenged.

Ginny squared her shoulders and stared back at him.

"Not at all." She replied. "Alright, let's do this."

Harry smiled at her and turned to the other three.

"How about it?"

Ron and Damien didn't need any convincing.

"A hurricane couldn't stop me." Damien laughed.

"I don't want to play!" Hermione quickly shook her head. "I'll keep the score." She offered.

Ginny turned back to see Harry looking at her. She felt a shiver run down her spine. There was something going on with him, but she couldn't figure out what.

xxx

Within the next half hour, all five teens were standing on the Quidditch pitch behind Potter Manor. Since all five could apparate, it took them less than a few seconds to disapparate from Harry's house in Hogsmeade to outside Potter Manor. James and Lily were currently teaching in Hogwarts so there was no one present to witness the impromptu Quidditch match.

The rain was coming down hard now but the only one complaining was Hermione. She pulled Harry to the side as Ron, Damien and Ginny grabbed the brooms and Quidditch supplies from the small storage shed.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"You want to play a game, especially in this weather?" Hermione asked.

Harry looked up at the cloudy sky, letting the rain hit him in the face.

"I wish it was drier." He sighed. "But it doesn't look like it's going to stop anytime soon." He looked back at Hermione.

"You're up to something." Hermione accused, looking at him with narrowed eyes. "What are you planning?"

"Nothing," Harry replied. "I just want a game."

Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, right! And I want to go partying the night before exams!"

Harry's only response was to smirk at her before turning around to join the other three.

"Since there are only four of us, we'll have to play accordingly." Ron instructed. "Me and Damy against the both of you," he gestured to Ginny and Harry. "The team that makes the most goals in one hour, wins."

"Let's make it interesting," Harry interrupted. "How about me and Damy on one team and you and Ginny on the other?"

Ron frowned.

"You mean one family up against the other?" he asked.

Harry saw the questioning look in Ginny's eyes and he smiled to himself.

"It'll be fun, the Weasleys' against the Potters'. You and Damy can be the chasers and me and Ginny can be both chasers and seekers." Harry held up the golden snitch. "The first seeker to catch the snitch, wins."

Ron and Damien agreed. Ginny met Harry's gaze and nodded.

"Alright, let's go!" Damien said excitedly, mounting his broom.

"You ready for this?" Harry asked Ginny, that strange smirk on his face again.

Ginny met his gaze full on.

"Bring it on, Potter." She answered with a smirk of her own.

Harry let go of the snitch, which immediately zoomed up into the air and disappeared from view. Ginny and Harry both shot up into the air, Damien and Ron followed pursuit and the game began.

xxx

Hermione kept note of the score as she watched from the ground, under her large umbrella. Damien and Harry were giving the game all they had, swooping behind and around their opponents, passing the quaffle to each other before scoring goals. But the Weasley siblings were skilled players too and were putting up a good fight against the Potter brothers. Ginny had managed to grab the quaffle from Damien and Harry a few times and Ron was scoring goals effortlessly. But it was the Potters' that were winning, taking the lead at 70-50.

The rain was belting down on the four players, making it difficult to see where the quaffle was, never mind the tiny golden snitch. Ginny kept her eye out for the snitch but she was too busy playing the game, catching the quaffle and passing it to Ron, to keep an eye out for the golden ball.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Harry suddenly change direction. In the blink of an eye, she was flying next to him. She couldn't see the snitch but knew Harry could so decided to follow him.

She struggled to keep up with Harry's speed and the rain didn't help her vision much. Just ahead of her she caught a flicker of golden wings and she knew Harry was close to the snitch. Not wanting to lose the match to her boyfriend, Ginny decided to play dirty.

She was flying almost shoulder to shoulder with Harry when she purposefully faltered, just enough to draw Harry's attention. Her broom shook and she let out a gasp, as if afraid she was about to fall off her broom. As anticipated, Harry slowed down at once, reaching out to steady her, forgetting about the snitch.

Ginny and Harry hovered mid air, Harry's hand grasping a hold of Ginny's arm.

"You okay?" Harry asked concerned.

Ginny saw the flutter of golden wings disappear from sight. She grinned at Harry.

"I am now."

Harry looked confused for a moment. He looked back to where the snitch had been a few seconds ago. He looked back at Ginny, after realising what she had done. He narrowed his eyes at her.

"You little cheat." He accused.

Ginny giggled at him.

"All is fair, Potter!" she said as she circled around him once before taking off. Harry grinned as he chased behind her.

"Have it your way, Weasley!" he replied.

Both went back to the game, making a grab for the quaffle.

It must have been another half hour before Ginny saw the snitch again. She watched Damien score another goal when the barely visible flutter of golden wings appeared, just next to Damien's ear. She went for it, pushing all she had to go as fast as possible. A whish of rushing air told her Harry was catching up to her.

Ginny sped right towards Damien, who twisted out of the way just in time to avoid a collision. Harry and Ginny were side by side, the snitch in both of their sights. Ginny was gaining speed, her eyes trying to keep the small golden ball in sight. The snitch dashed all over the place, desperate not to get caught.

Ginny saw Harry reach out to grab it. She reached out too, adamant not to admit defeat. Harry was faster, a better flyer and had very rarely missed the snitch but Ginny was not going to go down without a fight. She pushed herself to go faster, a last spurt of speed, and reached out, a desperate dash to catch the snitch. Her fingers brushed against the speeding ball and she closed her fingers around it.

Ginny pulled back, the golden snitch in her grasp. Immediately she slowed down, hovering in the air.

"Yes!" she cried with triumph. "Yes! Yes!"

She held up the snitch, like she did when she played seeker in Hogwarts matches. Ron and Damien stopped and looked around at her. At once, all four players made their way back to the ground, where Hermione was clapping and cheering for Ginny.

Ginny touched the ground and dismounted her broom. Her feet hit the ground and splashed in the muddy water but she didn't care.

"We won!" she cried with glee, addressing Hermione.

The snitch in her hand was still fluttering madly, trying to get free. Suddenly the struggling stopped and a very audible 'click' was heard. Ginny stopped and looked down at the snitch, surprised. She opened her fist and saw, to her utter shock, the snitch had opened. The top half of the snitch had popped open, not completely, but enough to show a little gap.

Ginny's first thought was that she had somehow broken the snitch. But a closer look showed her that it wasn't broken, just open. She looked up to see Hermione, Ron, Damien and Harry, all staring at either her or the half open snitch. With her other hand, Ginny lifted the top half of the snitch and pushed it to open completely. Sitting in the hollow of the golden snitch was a little black box.

Ginny's heart skipped a beat. With trembling hands, she pulled out the box and let the two halves of the snitch fall to the muddy ground. The rain drops fell on the black velvet box proving to Ginny that she wasn't imagining it. It was really there. Slowly, Ginny opened the box and just stared at the silver diamond ring, sitting proudly inside the box.

She looked up from the ring and found Harry standing a few paces away. He still had his broom clutched in his hand. His eyes met Ginny's and he smiled at her.

"How about it?" he asked, "will you marry me?"

Ginny looked back down at the ring and then at Harry. She had a smile on her face, one she couldn't hold back no matter how hard she tried.

"No," she shook her head, still smiling. She saw the smile slip off Harry's face and an expression of disbelief blanketed his features. Somewhere on her right, Hermione gasped loudly. Ginny didn't look around at her or at the other two boys, but she imagined they would look just as surprised and confused. Ginny kept her eyes fixed on Harry.

"Not unless you ask me properly." She chuckled.

Harry smiled in relief and threw his broomstick to the side, walking over to her. He dropped down onto not one, but both knees, keeping his emerald green eyes fixed to Ginny.

"Will you marry me?" he asked again, his voice betraying his emotions this time, allowing Ginny to hear the longing in it.

Ginny couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Yes!" she cried and flung herself onto Harry.

Harry fell back on the muddy ground with Ginny in his arms. Harry didn't seem to care though, he was laughing as he grabbed onto Ginny and brought his mouth onto hers. He kissed Ginny, his arms wrapping around her, holding her close to him. Ginny returned the kiss passionately. Neither seemed to care how muddy their clothes got. Still lying on the ground, Harry took the box from Ginny and pulled out the diamond ring. He slipped it on her finger. Ginny laughed and kissed Harry deeply again.

It was only when Hermione, Ron and Damien intervened that the two, newly engaged couple got up from the ground.

"Congratulations!" Hermione said, tears of happiness in her eyes as she hugged Ginny before hugging Harry and kissing him on the cheek.

"Congrats!" Damien and Ron said at the same time, each taking their siblings into their embrace.

"You planned all this!" Damien said to Harry. "That was wicked cool! You had the ring inside the snitch!"

"No wonder you wanted to play Quidditch!" Hermione said, smiling brightly.

"Why the snitch?" Ron asked.

Harry looked over at Ginny.

"I wanted it to mean something." He explained. "And I know how much you love Quidditch."

Ginny felt her heart skip several beats. She moved to kiss Harry again. She couldn't believe Harry had planned all this for her, for her happiness. She was so overwhelmed so couldn't even say thank you.

"Could we get out of the rain, please?" Hermione said, not wanting to ruin the moment but the rain was starting to get heavier.

Harry and Ginny broke their embrace and Harry looked up at the sky.

"When I planned this, I never imagined it would be raining." Harry admitted.

"I can't believe you never told anyone you were going to propose." Damien said as they headed to go indoors.

"I did tell someone." Harry said.

Damien stopped in his tracks.

"You did?" he asked. "Who?"

The answer made itself known as the glass doors leading into Potter Manor opened and Draco appeared, leaning against the wall.

"Have you done it yet?" he asked Harry, in his usual trademark drawl.

Harry, who had Ginny's hand in his own, held up his Ginny's hand, showing the sparkling ring on her finger.

Draco nodded at the sight.

"Right then, I picked up the drinks, cake and the food." He gestured to the room behind him. "It's all ready but you lot should probably clean up first." He said, giving the group a disgusted look.

Only then did Ginny realise how muddy and dirty her clothes were.

"You know, when most men propose they take their girlfriends out for a nice dinner." Hermione said. "That gives them the chance to dress up and look nice for the proposal." She shook her head at Ginny's muddy appearance. "Trust Harry to get you as muddy, wet and disgruntled as possible before proposing." she smiled. "It sure is an unusual proposal."

Ginny looked over at Harry and then smiled back at Hermione.

"That's because I have an unusual man." She replied happily.

xxx

What did you think? Please review!!


	2. Telling the Parents

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Wetboy's Request - _Harry and Ginny telling their parents about their engagement and their reactions. _

Dedicated to Wetboy, I hope it's to your liking. Enjoy!

**Telling the Parents**

Ginny smoothed down her dress nervously as she walked hand in hand with her fiancé. She kept fidgeting with the straps at her shoulders, or pulling her dress down to sit better, even though it fitted her perfectly. The sun was just setting as she approached her home, the Burrow outlined against the reddish orange sky. Ginny felt butterflies in her stomach. She ran a hand over her hair, smoothing it down and flicking it over her shoulders.

"Will you calm down?" Harry asked from beside her. "You look great, stop fidgeting."

Ginny in return reached up and fiddled with her shoulder strap again.

"I can't help it, I'm nervous." she said. "We're on our way to announce our engagement!" she said.

She held up her hand and stared at the diamond ring. It had only been on her finger for the last six hours but she already felt like it was a part of her. Excitement filled her as he approached the door. Both walked inside the Burrow, into the cramped but undeniably cosy kitchen. It was already filled with people. Arthur Weasley was sitting at the table, talking with James and Remus. Molly and Lily were standing next to the window, chatting amicably while Sirius was deep in conversation with Fred and George in the other corner. Ron and Hermione were there too, talking with Bill and Fleur at the other end of the table while Damien looked bored with Percy, who was talking with such vigour he hardly noticed the other boy wasn't paying attention.

As soon as Ginny and Harry walked inside, all the chatting stopped and every eye was suddenly on them. Ginny scanned the room, her smile already escaping her. She shared a silent knowing smile with Ron, Hermione and Damien. They already knew why everyone was gathered. After all, they were there when Harry proposed, a mere six hours ago. They had all left Potter Manor, after sharing celebratory drinks with Draco and all agreed to get cleaned up and meet at the Burrow, so the news of the engagement could be broken to the rest of the family. Damien had contacted James and Lily at Hogwarts, on Harry's orders, and asked them to come to the Burrow that evening for an 'important announcement'. Remus and Sirius were called by Hermione and Ron called his brothers to tell them to come home this evening.

Now everyone was watching as the two walked inside, holding hands.

"There you are!" Molly rushed to her daughter. "What's going on? Ron said you have an important announcement." she asked, her voice laced with excitement.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Fred asked.

"Why did you want all of us here?" George asked.

Ginny brimmed with excitement and happiness as she met her mother's stare. She glanced once at Harry and seeing his nod, she turned back to the room.

"Everyone, thank you for coming and yes mum, Ron was right. We do have an announcement." she watched as her words caused everyone in the room to hush to silence, attention fixed solely on her. "Harry asked me to marry him," Ginny grinned as she held up her hand, showing the sparkling ring on her finger, "and I said yes!"

She saw the surprise on her brothers' faces and even Fleur looked taken aback. But her father and mother didn't react, not like she had imagined them to anyway. Her father didn't move from the table and her mother blinked at her and then turned to look at Harry.

"About time!" she sighed. "I was beginning to think you had changed your mind!"

Harry grinned at her.

"I was waiting for it to stop raining." he said. "But this last week, it's been nothing but rain! Bloody annoying!"

Molly moved forward and clasped both hands on either side of Harry's face, giving him a very motherly kiss on the forehead before hugging him.

"Congratulations, dear!" she said. She turned and with a great big smile, she embraced Ginny. "Congratulations, darling!"

Ginny was too shocked to respond but she watched as her dad and James got up from the table and everyone else was making their way towards her.

"Congrats, son!" James shook Harry's hand before pulling him into an embrace. "Did you go with the snitch idea then?"

Harry laughed.

"I had my heart set on it." he replied. "Even the miserable rain couldn't make me change my mind."

"So you did the Quidditch proposal in the rain?" Lily asked. "Wow, that's a very _James_ moment you had."

"Wait," Ginny suddenly threw up her hands, stopping Arthur from hugging her. "You...you knew he was going to propose?" she was looking at her mum and at James and Lily.

"Of course we knew," Arthur replied with a chuckle, much to Ginny's surprise. "We've known for a fortnight now."

Ginny's jaw dropped and she stared at her father.

"A...fortnight!" she turned to look at Harry. "You told my parents a fortnight ago!"

"We've known for the past month now." Lily added, a definite smug smile on her face. "I helped pick out the ring."

"I gave him the Quidditch proposal idea." James beamed.

"No you didn't!" Harry defended. "that was my idea! You said to take her to a Quidditch game and ask her there."

"Hence, a Quidditch proposal." James explained. "You only changed it a bit."

Harry scoffed.

"A bit?"

"Okay, okay!" Ginny threw up her hands to quieten them. "So...you all knew?"

"I didn't know!" Sirius protested.

"Me neither." Remus added.

"Didn't have a clue." Fred and George chimed in together.

"I had ze idea you waz pregnant!" Fleur said dismissively.

Ginny gaped at her for a moment but she quickly turned her attention back to Harry.

"How...why did you...why did you tell our parents?" she asked, completely baffled at the fact that the extremely private Harry Potter she knew had told not only his parents but also _her_ parents about his intentions to marry her.

Her question was answered not by Harry but by Arthur Weasley.

"I think I know why." he smiled. "I thought about it the entire day I found out about your intentions." he spoke to Harry. "It's only been two weeks but since then, it's all I've been able to think about."

Arthur's mind went back to that evening, a fortnight ago when Harry had came to the Burrow, unannounced.

_(Flashback)_

Molly was in the kitchen, washing the dishes when she heard the faint popping sound of apparation. She looked up and out of her window to see a dark haired young man in her garden, making his way to the door. She frowned in surprise. Ginny wasn't home and Harry never came to the Burrow when Ginny wasn't home. She hurried to the door anyway, wiping her hands dry with her apron.

"Harry, dear!" she greeted as she pulled the door open. "How nice to see you!"

Harry smiled back, albeit a little forcefully.

"Mrs Weasley." he nodded in greeting.

"My dear, Ginny isn't home." Molly informed him kindly.

Harry nodded his head.

"I know." he shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "I was wanting to speak with Arthur-Mr Weasley," he corrected himself, "if he's available." he added hastily.

Molly was surprised with Harry's uncharacteristic nervous behaviour. Moreover, she wondered whatever could Harry Potter want from Arthur? But she smiled her warm, motherly smile and welcomed him into her home, ushering him to the living room where Arthur was sitting before the fire, reading the paper. He was just as surprised as his wife at the unannounced visitor.

"Harry?" he greeted. "What a pleasant surprise." he stood up and shook hands with the young man. "Sit." he offered and resumed his seat once Harry sat down before him.

Molly stayed where she was, noticing the peculiar behaviour of the usually confident boy she knew. Harry looked a little tense and uncertain today. He kept running a hand down his robes, which she noted where new and immaculate in every sense of the word.

"So, Harry," Arthur began with a smile, "what brings you to the Burrow?"

He knew the only time Harry came to the Burrow was to meet Ginny, or if the Potter family were invited for dinner.

Harry paused, seemingly thinking out his answer. He shifted, moving to sit at the edge of the chair.

"Mr Weasley," Harry started, "I know that for most people, first impressions are the ones that stick." he dropped his gaze, "I know I didn't make such a great first impression," he ran a hand through his hair nervously again.

Arthur smiled.

"I had faith in you." he said, "it wavered, _a lot_, but I kept a hold of it." he smiled. "It all worked out in the end."

Harry ducked his head, pausing for a moment before he pushed on.

"I know that I'm not the best person in the world." Harry said quietly. "I'll be the first to admit that." He looked up to meet Arthur's curious gaze. "But I'm very passionate, about the people I care about."

Arthur nodded his head.

"Yes, Harry. I do remember."

Harry looked at Arthur, his green eyes sharpening a fraction

"Mr Weasley, I care a lot about your daughter." he stated boldly. "She's been by my side through all my ups and downs." he met Arthur's gaze head on. "I love Ginny." he said and Arthur could hear the sincerity in his voice. "I know that you may have reservations about her being involved with me," Harry didn't wait for a response and pushed forward, "but I want to ask you, all the same." he paused, his eyes glancing once at Molly, still standing next to the door. "Mr Weasley, I'm here today to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage."

His peripheral vision caught Molly's shocked and surprised reaction but his eyes stayed on Arthur, who didn't move a muscle. For one long minute, no one said or did anything, then Arthur picked up the paper in his lap, put it aside on the table and he leaned forward, his brow furrowed.

"Harry," he breathed out with a difficult sigh, "if I tell you that I love my daughter, I wouldn't be telling you the honest truth." he said. "_Love_ isn't a strong enough word to describe my feelings for her." Arthur met the green eyes. "If my sons are my heart then my daughter is my soul." he explained. "My Ginevra means more to me than life itself. She's my only daughter and maybe for that reason alone, I have always tried to give her what she's wanted." his gaze hardened a little. "I know that she cares for you, I know that she loves you and I know that you love her. Harry, I remain forever in your debt for saving Ginny's life. But that doesn't mean that her future with you doesn't worry me."

Harry's expression showed that he was expecting something like this, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. He looked away in disappointment.

"I understand." he muttered.

"No, I don't think you do." Arthur replied. "Please let me finish." he kept his eyes on Harry. "You know what opinion most have about you and you admit yourself that maybe that opinion is deserved." Arthur straightened up a little in his seat. "I haven't forgotten when your enemies targeted her, just so they could get to you." he reminded Harry of Rodolphus Lestrange and his attempt to kill Ginny, just to hurt Harry.

The reminder made Harry shift uncomfortably and his hands shook a little.

"I remember that too." Harry replied quietly, anger coursing through him at the memory.

Arthur stared intently at Harry.

"I want Ginny to live a life of happiness, a life in which she is safe and away from prejudice and away from hate." he watched as Harry nodded, wanting those same things for her. Arthur smiled. "But I also know that such a life is impossible. Prejudices lie in every corner of the world and hate is inflicted without justification. As much as I would like to believe otherwise, nowhere is safe, not entirely." he watched as confusion came over Harry's face and he looked up at him. Arthur smiled warmly at him. "I may not have liked you when we first met, six years ago, but I have the utmost respect and admiration for you now. You are a wonderful person, Harry. You are courageous and hard working and I know you will give my Ginny whatever she wants. I know that you will love her and protect her, as you always have." he looked at Harry with a smile. "What more can a father ask for?" he said. "You have my blessing."

Harry's expression made Arthur smile, there was so much relief and happiness on his face. Arthur reached over and offered a hand which Harry shook at once.

Molly clapped her hands loudly and let out an excited cry of joy. She bustled over to Harry and hugged him before kissing him on both cheeks.

"My dear, dear boy!" she cried, as she locked him in an embrace. "Oh, I'm so happy for you! Oh my Ginny is going to be a bride! She's going to marry the man she loves! Oh, I'm so happy!"

Harry struggled to control himself. His dislike for being hugged, which although had died down significantly, still bothered him. But he forced himself to stay still and let Mrs Weasley cry over him. With the woman draped over his front, crying with happiness, Harry looked over at Arthur, to see him smirking.

"Get used to it," he laughed. "She's your mother now!"

_(End Flashback)_

Arthur smiled as he finished his story. He looked over at Harry.

"I know you didn't have to ask me for my permission. You could have married Ginny and then told me." Arthur said. "But I think I know why you asked, you did it for Ginny, for her to have her parents' blessing."

Harry didn't say anything but he ducked his head, giving Arthur his answer. Ginny turned to face Harry. She was so chocked up with emotion she could hardly find her voice.

"You...you asked my dad for permission?" she said in a strained voice. "I...I can't believe you would do that."

Harry smiled and took a hold of her hand.

"I knew it would mean a lot to you." he admitted. "Your family is important to you, I get that." he smirked suddenly. "I mean it's bad enough that _one_ member of your family hates me." he said, referring to Charlie. "I could do with making friends with the rest of them."

"Tough luck!" George teased.

"Yeah, we're not your friend - oh, wait!" Fred slapped a hand on his forehead in mock surprise. "He's taking Ginny away! We can finally get rid of her!" Fred laughed. "We're best friends now!" he gave Harry a thumbs up.

Ginny ignored them.

"I can't believe you guys knew and you didn't tell anyone." Ron said, talking to both sets of parents. "You could have told me, I came to dinner last night." he complained to his mum.

"We didn't want to spoil the surprise." Molly explained. "Harry didn't want anyone to know so we kept it quiet."

"Here," Lily held out the tray with champagne glasses to the crowd. "I had a feeling this meeting at the Burrow was going to be a cause for celebration!" she handed two glasses to the newly engaged couple.

"To Harry and Ginny," Arthur toasted, looking at his smiling daughter. "May you have all the happiness in the world."

Ginny held up the glass as cheers of 'Harry' and 'Ginny' rang all around her. She looked straight at Harry and held up her glass.

"To us." she smiled.

Harry clinked his glass against hers.

"To us." he repeated, smiling.

xxx


	3. My Black Eyed Boy

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Dedicated to Jeff, who wanted to an explanation to '_the whole issue behind the black eyes and why they happen?_' and with Ginny asking Harry about it and '_have Hermione studying it at work to see if it will be passed on to his children and if it would happen to Damien._'

I hope you like it, Jeff!

**My Black Eyed Boy**

The stadium was ready. The seats were filled to the maximum population, a sea of colour as the supporters wore their team colours proudly; some deep green and others purple, waving their hand held flags and chanting the name of their teams with excitement.

Lights hovered in mid-air, illuminating the night sky and shining down on the three hoops on either side of the pitch. The mysterious golden light that shone from the Quidditch stadium itself lit up the grounds so every inch of it was visible.

Ginny watched the sight from the changing room. Her eyes scanning the stands, taking in the large number of people. Her heart fluttered madly, nervously and for the time being she allowed it. It was better she got nervous now rather than later. She had to have her wits about her when she stepped onto the pitch.

"How's the sight, Ginny?" a voice asked behind her.

Ginny turned around to look at her friend and Holyhead Harpies' Keeper, Brittany Graff.

"It's looking good." Ginny replied, turning to look out again.

Brittany walked up behind her and stared out at the sight. The brunette let out a low whistle.

"My, my, we have quite a turnout." she said. "I better play like my life depends on it tonight, otherwise that crowd will eat me alive."

Ginny smiled as she turned around to face the other girl.

"Just don't let any of The Prides' goals in and we'll be fine." she said.

Brittany scoffed and waved her hand.

"Please, The Pride of Portree don't stand a chance against us!" she challenged.

Ginny turned to look out at the grounds again.

"Just keep telling yourself that." she muttered, talking to both herself and Brittany.

Her brown eyes travelled to the top box. She couldn't see if anyone was in there or not, she was at ground level and couldn't make it out, but somehow she could tell he was there. Her heart fluttered anew, knowing Harry was here, waiting to watch her play.

"Is he here?" Brittany asked, seeing where her friend's gaze was.

"Yeah, he's here." Ginny said, stepping back from the front of the tent and moving away.

"I told you he'd come." Brittany said, smiling. "You were worried for nothing."

Ginny smiled as she moved to her locker. She pulled out her gloves.

"I'm still surprised he came." Ginny said honestly. "He surprises me, even now."

"That's a good sign, trust me!" The tall brunette said as she walked over to her locker as well. "I can read my boyfriend like an old, tattered, all time favourite book! It gets very boring!" she smirked at Ginny. "At least your fiancé keeps you guessing."

Ginny laughed. That was true. She looked at the diamond ring sitting on her finger for a moment before she pulled it off, threading one end of her silver chain through it before clasping it around her neck. Her engagement ring sat at her chest, close to her heart, like it always did when she was playing Quidditch. Ginny pulled on her gloves and grabbed her broomstick.

"You ready?" she asked.

Brittany slammed her locker shut and grinned.

"Girl, I was born ready!" she chuckled.

Both girls were about to head to the opposite end of the tent, where the rest of the team was gathered around the captain, when a small brown owl flew into the tent and landed in front of Ginny. The owl was small and scrawny, it's yellow eyes blinking at Ginny and Brittany. It held out it's leg to Ginny, offering her the small scroll of parchment.

"What's this about?" Ginny asked as she moved to untie the parchment from the tiny owl's leg. "Who would write to me at this time?"

"Hmm, maybe it's from Wilson." Brittany said, nodding at their team captain. "A secret message telling you, _you're fired!_" she grinned.

Ginny threw her friend a look but couldn't help but chuckle a little. She unrolled the scroll to find it was a single sheet of parchment folded into half with her name written in messy writing on the front in red ink. She thought it might be from Harry, a last minute '_Good Luck!_' note of sorts. With a smile, Ginny quickly opened the note, only to find her heart stop at the words sprawled in the same messy writing.

'_You're too good for him!_'

Ginny stared at the words, written in red ink. From beside her, she heard Brittany's loud exclamation.

"What the hell!" Brittany grabbed the note from Ginny and stared at it. "Who sent this!" she asked no one in particular.

Ginny looked around to find the owl had gone, not that she could have deduced from the owl who the sender of the note was anyway.

"Weasley! Graff!" the voice pulled both girls' attention away from the note. Lucy Wilson's sharp grey eyes were narrowed at them. "Are you planning on joining us or not?"

"Yes, captain." Ginny replied.

She took the note from Brittany and ripped the parchment to shreds before walking over to the gap in the tent and throwing the fist full into the air. She turned back and walked over to join her team mates and captain, ignoring Brittany's confused expression.

xxx

The game ended after exactly two hours and thirty five minutes. Holyhead Harpies won the game but Ginny found she couldn't enjoy the victory. She had forgotten all about the note when she kicked off from the ground and started the game. The sight of Harry sitting in the top box next to Damien and Ron, was enough to drive all other thoughts from her mind. But now the game was over and all Ginny could do was think about that stupid note and the words written across it. She knew now that the words were written not in red ink but in blood. She should have recognised the messy writing, after all this wasn't the first time she had seen it.

It was almost a year ago, when she had received a letter, written in blood, from someone she assumed was a fan. The letter was similar to the countless other fan mail she received from Holyhead Harpies' fans across Britain and especially Wales. The only difference was that it was written with blood. The knowledge freaked her out to the point that she refused to read the letter and Ron had read it out to her. The first few were the usual; '_You're the best chaser in the world! You are so beautiful! I'm in love with you! Please, marry me!_' and so on. Then the letters turned nasty; '_Why are you with him? He doesn't deserve you! You're too good for Harry Potter!_'

Ginny had replied back after that, the first time she read the blood dripped words saying she shouldn't be with Harry, she wrote back to the fan. She told him to mind his own business and to never again say Harry's name or to write it. _He_ wasn't good enough to even _think_ Harry's name. She had tried to find out who this obsessed fan was by running tests on the blood the letters were written in but she found that the person had cast charms on the letters, preserving his anonymity.

The letters stopped after Ginny sent her reply and she had thought that was the end to it. But now, almost three months later, she got another letter and the sudden reappearance of it had Ginny annoyed beyond measure.

Brittany caught up with Ginny as she walked out of the shower and was making her way over to her locker.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Ginny replied. "We won, didn't we."

"No, I meant, about that letter." Brittany explained.

Ginny brushed the comment aside.

"It's not worth thinking about." she said, even though she _was_ thinking about it. "It's just an obsessed fan, talking rubbish!"

Brittany gave Ginny a look.

"Obsessed fans are dangerous people." she said. "Report it to the authorities and tell Harry. He'll put a stop to it."

Ginny pulled on her clothes.

"I'll tell Harry," she said, "but the authorities won't do anything. Technically, the note is not threatening and they can't do anything to someone who is merely, 'stating their opinion'." Ginny pulled a face as she said the last part.

Brittany grinned.

"Ah, so this isn't the first time." she said, realising that Ginny's statement must have been the response she got back from the authorities. "You've had this problem before. I understand now."

Ginny closed her locker with a bang.

"It's a recurring problem but don't worry." she grinned, "My fiancé will put an end to it."

xxx

As soon as Ginny stepped outside the tent, she was surrounded by flashing lights and crowds of people screaming her name and waving their 'Holyhead Harpies' flags in the air. Guards had a shimmering red light that acted like a rope, keeping the fans and reporters away from the players that emerged from their tent.

"Ginevra! Ginevra Weasley!" the shouts of her name mixed into names of the other players so it all sounded nothing more than a lot of noise.

"God! This is headache inducing!" Brittany said to Ginny. "Can't we tell them all to shut it!"

Ginny grinned as she and the other six team members walked over to start signing autographs for the fans.

"We can, but that's just being mean." Ginny replied.

"So? I like being mean." Brittany winked before shaking hands with a fan and smiling at them.

Ginny was busy shaking hands and signing autographs, so busy in fact, she didn't see the tall dark haired wizard until he was standing before her. She had reached over to sign the parchment held out for her when she noticed the familiar hand, holding the parchment. The long fingers, neatly cut nails and a band of black on the middle finger gave Harry away. She looked up into his dazzling emerald green eyes and the playful look on his face made her smile.

"Autograph, please." he said, smiling at her.

Ginny giggled and signed her name across the parchment.

"There you are, sir." she said, playing along.

Harry stepped towards her, leaving the crowd behind him. He stepped through the restraining red beam of light, walking past it as easy as if the red light was nothing more than mist. Ginny smiled at the look of shock on most people's faces as they saw Harry walk through the barrier. She spotted a few young fans trying to copy Harry but they couldn't get past it.

"Showing off, again?" she asked as Harry wrapped an arm around her.

"I can't have you take all the limelight now, can I?" he joked back.

A few months ago, Harry couldn't get past the red light barrier. It stopped him just as it was supposed to. But to Harry, it was a challenge that he had to pass. She had seen him training, not his physical training, but magical training. He had pushed himself, manipulated his core and used his unique raw magic to figure out how to push past barriers, just like he could push past wards and anti-apparation spells. He looked so much happier now, demonstrating yet another restraint he could break past.

"What did you think of the game?" Ginny asked as she resumed her job of signing autographs.

"It was good," Harry replied, walking along with her as she saw to her fans. "It was over too soon though."

"Too soon?" Ginny turned to stare at him. "We played for two and a half hours."

Harry feigned surprise.

"Really? That long?" he shook his head. "I couldn't tell. I was too busy watching you fly." he smirked at her expression. "You know what they say; time flies when you're having fun."

Ginny rolled her eyes at him. She signed one last autograph before turning to Harry.

"Shall we?" she asked.

Harry wrapped a strong arm around her waist and began to lead her away from the crowd, heading to the edge of the anti-apparation wards. Ginny could make out a crowd of people waiting for them. She saw Ron and Hermione, Damien, James and Sirius. They were all going to apparate to the Burrow, where the rest were waiting for them.

"Ginevra!"

"Ginevra Weasley!" the shouts behind them continued and Ginny turned to wave one last time before walking away with Harry.

"Ginevra!"

"One last autograph!"

"Ginevra Weasley!"

"Ginny!"

"_You're too good for him!"_

"Ginevra!"

"Ginny!"

The words caught Ginny and she stopped mid step. She whipped around, brown eyes darting from one face in the crowd to another.

"Who said that?" she snapped.

"Ginny?" she heard Harry's voice next to her ear but she didn't look around at him. She was too busy trying to see if she could spot the person who had yelled those words to her.

"Who said that?" she yelled again but all she got back was more flashes of light as the cameras took her picture and fans yelled out her name.

"Ginny, what's wrong?" Harry asked.

"Did you hear that?" she asked.

"Hear what?" Harry asked. "Gin, what is it?"

Ginny turned to look at Harry. Had she imagined it? Did that note affect her so much that she could hear the words in her mind? Shaking her head, she turned away from the crowd.

"Sorry, I...I thought I heard something."

Both turned back and started walking again. Ginny only realised that something was wrong a split second later. She heard the sound, even through all the yelling and the noise, she heard the faint whooshing sound. By the time her mind registered the fact that the sound was getting louder, Harry had already reacted. Letting go of her hand, Harry spun around and his hand flew up to catch the rock that had been thrown at his head. His fingers curled around the heavy rock as he lowered his hand.

The yells and shouts suddenly died away. Ginny saw the crowd of people staring at them with looks of horror. It took her a moment to realise that they were looking terrified not because someone had thrown a rock at Harry's head but because Harry was looking at all of them with dangerously blackened eyes.

Ginny's heart almost stopped as she looked at her fiancé and saw the emerald green eyes she loved so much had been replaced by the merciless black ones. Harry's gaze searched through the crowd, seeking out the one who had thrown the rock at him. His murderous gaze settled on a skinny, small framed boy, face covered by pimples. He was looking nervously at Harry, fearful but more nervous than afraid.

Harry glowered at him and took one step in his direction when the boy startled and turned to run. The ground shook at Harry's non verbal spell and caused a ripple of panic to go through the waiting crowd. Harry shot towards the stumbling boy. Ginny stood rooted to the spot and watched as the crowd of people cried out and scrambled out of Harry's way. A flick of Harry's hand and the pimple faced boy was sent crashing through the air. He landed with a thump on the grass. The boy hurried to pick himself up and took off at once, running at full speed. The guards rushed at Harry, holding him back so he didn't go for the boy. Two guards darted after the boy, chasing after him.

Harry shook the guards off, but made no move to run after the boy. Instead he turned and walked back to Ginny.

"Son of a bitch!" Harry hissed angrily as he threw the rock to the side before closing his eyes, an effort to calm down. He opened his eyes and and turned to face Ginny. That's when he caught the look of fear on her face. "What?" he asked in concern. "What is it?"

Ginny opened her mouth to speak, but her mouth was suddenly dry. She pointed a finger at his face.

"Your...your eyes. They're...still...black." she managed.

Harry looked surprised. He closed his eyes, willing them back to their usual green. He opened his eyes and looked at Ginny. She drew back a little and shook her head. They were still black. Harry closed his eyes again, focusing on controlling his anger and burying it deep inside him. He opened his eyes again and looked at Ginny. Some colour returned to her face and she smiled shakily at him. They were back to their usual green.

"Harry!" James reached them, followed by Damien, Sirius, Ron and Hermione. "What happened?" he asked worried.

"Nothing," Harry answered. "Just a crazy kid, trying to get himself killed!"

Ginny closed her eyes, rubbing at her forehead.

"Ginny? You okay." Ron asked, taking a hold of his sister's arm.

Ginny looked up but didn't respond. She wasn't sure if she was okay. She wasn't sure of anything.

xxx

A few days later, Ginny sat with Hermione outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour in Diagon Alley. Both girls were enjoying ice cream in the hot weather but their topic of discussion was less enjoyable.

"Have you had any more letters from him?" Hermione asked.

Ginny shook her head, making her mane of red hair bounce around her face.

"Thankfully, no," she added. "I'm not sure if the guards managed to catch him or not. He could be arrested for all I know."

"I'm sure they'll let you know if they did arrest him." Hermione said. "He seems really daft." Hermione added after a moment of thought. "What did he think would happen if he attacked Harry? You would reckon he would be too afraid to throw anything at him."

Ginny dropped her spoon, ignoring her sundae.

"I'm thankful it was only a rock he threw at Harry." Ginny said in a quiet voice. "What if it was a knife? Or worse, the killing curse?" From what she had seen of the boy, he looked young, perhaps seventeen or eighteen years old but that didn't mean he couldn't cast an Unforgivable. "I didn't even realise what had happened until Harry turned around and caught it. What if next time Harry doesn't react quick enough?" Ginny said worriedly.

Hermione gave Ginny a strange look.

"It's Harry," she said. "You know well enough how good his reflexes are and besides, it's not going to happen again." she said confidently.

"How do you know?" Ginny asked. "What if this guy hasn't been arrested yet? What if he attacks Harry again?"

"Then he'll get killed by Harry." Hermione answered matter-of-factly. "If he's stupid enough to mess with Harry then he can suffer the consequences."

Ginny looked away.

"That's just the thing." she confided in a whisper. "For a moment, I thought Harry _was_ going to kill him."

Hermione suddenly looked guilty.

"Oh, Ginny!" she started, shaking her head. "I didn't mean it literally. I meant Harry would teach him a lesson, beat him, not actually kill him."

"How can you know what Harry will do?" Ginny asked. "You know what happens to him when he goes black eyed." A shudder of fear went through her. "He can't control himself when he's angry and that scares me."

Hermione abandoned her ice cream sundae as well.

"What are you saying?" she asked quietly.

"I love Harry," Ginny started. "You know how much I love him. He's my world. But...but when he gets angry and his eyes change, it scares me." Ginny confessed.

"Harry won't hurt you, Ginny." Hermione was quick to say. "You do know that, don't you?" she asked.

"Yeah, I know." Ginny nodded. "I don't mean that he scares me in the sense that he might hurt me. Harry could never do that." Ginny dismissed. Her voice dropped lower and she fidgeted in her seat. "I mean that...I'm scared because when Harry goes black eyed...he...he reminds me of...of _him_."

Hermione sat back, understanding dawned on her.

"Oh," she whispered, "right."

Ginny looked miserably at Hermione.

"I know that it's stupid and probably sounds like I'm making a huge deal out of nothing but," she sighed deeply, "I got really freaked out when Harry's eyes took longer to go back to their normal green. It got me thinking, what if one day Harry's eyes turn black and stay black? Like Voldemort's eyes turned red and stayed like that. I don't think I could deal with that."

"Don't say that." Hermione replied sharply. "You love Harry, regardless of the colour of his eyes."

"I'm not being vain," Ginny insisted, "It's just, Harry's black eyes remind me too much of his anger and what he can do when he's in that state of mind." she held Hermione's gaze. "I can't imagine ever being comfortable with him when he's like that."

Hermione was quiet for a moment, thinking over Ginny's words. With a sigh, she leaned over the table, her fingers brushing over Ginny's clasped hands.

"I understand what you mean." she started. "I don't like seeing Harry when he's black eyed either." she swallowed heavily, thinking back to her memories of an angry Harry. "But there isn't a lot you can do. If Harry's eyes turn black eventually, then they turn black. There's no stopping it. Maybe this is something he got from...Voldemort." Hermione whispered the deceased Dark Lord's name. "One of the many powers he passed onto Harry."

Ginny thought about it, her eyes darting to Hermione's face, as if contemplating sharing her thoughts.

"Or maybe it's more to do with the fact that Harry won't stop experimenting with his magic."

Hermione sat back, surprised.

"Experimenting?" she questioned. "Harry's not _experimenting_. It's only natural for someone who has such an acute grasp on magic to test his boundaries. Harry's only pushing himself to see how far he can go, test his limits and learn more and personally I find that admirable." Hermione said.

"All through my childhood, all I heard was stories about Voldemort, why he became what he was, how he became so powerful." Ginny started. "Everyone said that Voldemort practised the Dark Arts, experimented with it and manipulated it. He was a wizard with incredible raw magic, just like Harry." she pointed out. "Voldemort's obsession with dark magic got to a point that it started affecting his physical appearance and his eyes eventually turned red." Ginny looked worriedly at Hermione. "What if the same happens to Harry?"

Hermione didn't answer for a moment. Her brown eyes were fixed to Ginny's face and she could see how upset her friend was.

"Look, maybe you're getting worked up for no reason. You don't know why Harry's eyes change and if there is any possibility of them staying black." Hermione tried to comfort her. "Let me do some research on this. I'll look up what I can on the subject."

"You reckon you'll find anything?" Ginny asked, sceptical.

"There must be something." Hermione replied. "After all, Voldemort and Harry can't be the only ones who can change their eye colour."

xxx

Ginny walked into her house, rubbing at her head. Her talk with Hermione had taken it's toll and she was ready to soak in the tub for an hour and go to her bed for a nap. She walked into the kitchen, intending to get herself a drink, but stopped short at the sight of Harry sitting at the kitchen table.

Harry looked up from his half eaten sandwich and smiled at her.

"Hey, you're back early." he greeted.

Ginny didn't answer. She didn't hear what Harry had said. Her mind was concentrating on only one thing; Harry's black eyes.

"What...what's wrong with your...eyes?" she managed to ask.

Harry's brow creased.

"Are they still black?" he asked, getting up from the table to see his reflection in the glass window. "Damn, I thought they would have changed back by now."

Ginny felt her heart sink to her stomach at his words.

"Harry?" she started with worry. "What happened? Why are your eyes black?"

Harry closed his eyes, focusing on changing them back. He opened his eyes a moment later and Ginny almost cried out with relief. His emerald green eyes were back. Harry checked his reflection in the window, smiling guiltily.

"There, that's better." he said turning to face Ginny. He walked back to the table and sat down, picking up his sandwich. "I didn't even think to check if they had turned back."

Ginny was still standing at the door of her kitchen. She had moved in with Harry shortly after he had proposed. Almost a year later, and Ginny considered the house more hers than Harry's.

"Harry, why were your eyes black in the first place?" she asked as she walked over to him. "Did something happen?" she asked, fearful of what could have happened to anger Harry enough that his eyes changed. He didn't look like he was in a mood though. In fact, he looked rather happy.

Harry shook his head at her.

"Nothing happened. I was training, that's all." he answered as he stood up, picking up his empty plate and walking over to the sink.

"Training?" Ginny questioned.

In response, Harry turned around, lifting up his hand to show her the fiery red band encircling his wrist.

A strange sort of fire erupted inside Ginny at the sight of that blasted bartra bracelet. She hated that thing with a passion.

"Who put that on you?" she demanded.

"I did." Harry answered, a smirk on his face at Ginny's expression.

"What?" Ginny looked confused and angry. ""Why?"

"So I can do this." Harry lifted his hand to show her the bracelet, closed his eyes and after a moment, the red bracelet turned to a blinding white colour, shining with an intense brightness before snapping back to red.

Ginny went very quiet.

Harry opened his eyes and stared at her.

"I'm almost there." he told her, excitement clear in his voice. "I've worked out how to neutralise the power of the bracelet, that's when it goes white. If I can work out the locking mechanism, I'll be able to remove it completely from my wrist." he grinned at her. "Can you imagine that? No more bartra bracelets for me."

"Where did you get the bracelet from?" Ginny asked, even though she didn't really care where it came from.

"I got Sirius to pick one up for me. I wanted to test it." Harry replied.

Ginny nodded, furious at Sirius for encouraging Harry. Surely he shouldn't be helping his godson get into trouble. She mentally made a note to complain to Lily about Sirius. She swallowed heavily, thinking how to word what she wanted to say without upsetting Harry.

"Harry, maybe you shouldn't be trying to work out how to break a bartra bracelet." she started carefully. "After all, it won't be much good to anyone if you figure out how to break it."

Harry blinked at her in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "It's not like I'm going to make the knowledge public." he chuckled. "I just want to know for myself." He held up the bracelet, looking at it. "This is the only barrier I can't break out of, yet." he smiled at Ginny. "I have to work out how to break past it."

"Why?" Ginny asked, feeling her iron grip on her temper slip away. "Why do you _need_ to know? Why is it that you have this incessant need to always be one step ahead of everyone else?Isn't it enough that you can break past wards and every other possible barrier? Do you really need to mess with this as well?"

Harry put down the plate, walking over to Ginny. He stopped before her, emerald eyes fixed on her.

"What's wrong, Gin?" he asked, his voice no longer gentle but harder and sharper than she had heard it in a while.

Ginny braced herself. She was tired, confused and emotional and perhaps confessing her feelings to Harry at this precise moment wasn't a smart move, but she had landed herself into it and there was no backing out now.

She took a deep breath and locked her gaze with Harry.

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to be...experimenting with your magic like this." she said. A flash on annoyance in Harry's eyes made her heart leap but she pressed on regardless. "I know you want to better yourself and that's all good but...but I'm scared you might be pushing yourself in the wrong way."

"_Wrong_ way?" Harry asked, the underlying growl in his voice didn't elude Ginny. "How do _you_ know what is wrong and what is right?"

Ginny mentally cursed herself. Did she have to use that word? She knew perfectly well how much Harry hated the so called 'boundaries of right and wrong'.

"I just meant you're using dark magic to learn how to break past barriers and that's not ri...that's not the way you should be doing it." she caught herself in time.

Harry looked taken aback. He stared hard at Ginny, his mouth pressed into a tight line.

"That's not it." he said quietly. "That's not what's bothering you. I've noticed you've been on edge ever since your match with The Pride." he stared intently at her. "What's really bothering you, Ginny, because I know how much you hate bartra bracelets and had I shown you this last week, you would have been ecstatic that I can manipulate them."

Ginny licked her lips nervously, not sure if she should risk telling Harry what was _truly_ bothering her. She decided to tell him, she was going to have to do it sooner of later, may as well do it now.

"You're right, that's not what's bothering me." Ginny sighed. She rubbed at her forehead, trying to soothe her headache. "I...I've noticed lately that every time your eyes turn black, they...it takes longer for them to...to turn back."

Harry looked surprised.

"So?" he asked. "What's that got to do with anything?"

Ginny pushed on.

"I'm...I'm scared that one day, they might not turn back They might stay black." she said.

"And?" Harry prompted. "So what if they do?"

Ginny looked at Harry carefully.

"It wouldn't bother you?" she asked, already fearing the answer. "If you lost your green eyes?"

Harry narrowed his eyes at her.

"What's gotten into you?" he asked. "What difference does eye colour make?"

"It makes all the difference in the world!" Ginny said, no longer in control of her temper.

"Why?" Harry asked just as annoyed.

"Because I don't want you to turn like Voldemort!"

Harry stilled, his narrowed green eyes darkened at the name of his '_father'_.

"Ginny..." he growled in warning.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Ginny pushed on, ignoring all the danger signs. "But the truth is when your eyes change you scare me. You remind me of _him_ and it terrifies me!"

Harry stood still, his eyes widened a little at Ginny's outburst but he didn't speak.

"I love you," Ginny said, taking a step closer to him. "God, Harry, I love you so much and that's why I can't stand back and watch you get addicted to the dark arts, just like Voldemort did! I can't stand to see you change and become more like _him_!"

Harry's hand shot up, instantly quietening Ginny. With effort, Harry spoke in a trembling voice.

"Don't, Ginny," he warned. "Just...stop."

"Harry..."

"You've said enough." Harry said, fighting to keep control. "I get it."

Without saying another word, Harry walked past her and out of the kitchen.

"Harry!" Ginny turned to go after him but stopped as he disappeared up the stairs.

She heard the door slam closed and had to forcefully stop herself going after him.

xxx

"Oh, Ginny!" Hermione groaned, "Oh, tell me you didn't!"

Ginny dropped her eyes to the ground miserably.

"I don't even know why I said all this stuff to him." she replied. "I wanted to tell him how I felt but I ended up telling him I'm terrified of him when I'm not."

"You should have taken the time to explain things properly." Hermione berated, pushing the teacup towards her distressed friend.

Ginny ignored the cup of tea, staring vacantly at the intricate design of Hermione's tablecloth.

"I told him he was turning into Voldemort." Ginny said. "Urgh! Why did I say that? I don't think that! I know he's nothing like Voldemort, so why did I tell Harry that?"

Hermione sipped at her tea.

"Maybe because, somewhere deep inside your mind, you do think that." she offered.

Ginny looked startled.

"Hermione!" she admonished. "I don't think that! Not subconsciously and not otherwise!"

"So why did you tell Harry that?" Hermione asked.

"I...I..." Ginny couldn't find the right words, realising she herself didn't know why she had said those words. Defeated, she slumped in her seat. "I don't know." she confessed.

Hermione leaned forward.

"It could be that you said all that stuff to Harry because of those letters you were getting."

Ginny looked up at Hermione with surprise.

"The letters?" she asked. "I don't understand."

Hermione sighed before she started explaining.

"Those letters that you got from your obsessed fan had things written like, 'Harry's not right for you' and 'You shouldn't be with him', 'Harry's evil, he's not a nice person' and so on." Hermione said. "Maybe, those things stayed in your mind and you began subconsciously believing them."

Ginny was quick to shake her head.

"I could never believe those things." she objected. "No matter who said them and how many letters I got. I love Harry, I know what's he's like."

"I'm not saying you don't." Hermione argued. "I mean that the words stayed with you and affected your behaviour with Harry. It's easy enough to understand. If you hear a rumour about someone you know, even if you believe with all your heart that the rumour is not true, you still have that shadow of a doubt. It's perfectly normal."

Ginny didn't want to believe that she was so easily turned against the one she loved. She had thought she was stronger than that. She _knew_ she was stronger than that.

"I don't know what I should do." Ginny said. "Harry's not spoken to me since our last conversation, three days ago. I've apologised but all I get in return is a look." she made a face. "I really blew it, and for what? A fear that I can't even justify!"

Hermione put down her cup, looking uncomfortable.

"I wouldn't say your fears weren't justified." she said quietly. "I called you over for a reason." Hermione started.

"Oh God," Ginny groaned, bringing her hands up to her head. "You found something, didn't you?" she could tell from Hermione's tone that the news wasn't going to be something she was going to like.

Hermione didn't answer but walked over to one of her drawers in her kitchen and pulled it open. She brought out a thick book and placed it in front of Ginny.

"I did some research." she explained to Ginny. "I found out why Harry's eyes change colour."

Ginny looked up from the book, staring at Hermione.

"What did you find?" she asked.

"It's what I initially thought." Hermione said. "His eyes changing colour is connected to his powers." she said. "It's widely accepted that if a person has a high level of raw magical energy, they can manipulate their core better than others." She began explaining. "From what I've learnt, there have been a number of witches and wizards throughout history that are born with exceptionally more raw magical energy than others. The first notable wizard is Merlin." Hermione said. "He's a legendary wizard and his scope of magical energy was exceptional." Hermione gestured to the book in front of Ginny. "It says in there that the four founders of Hogwarts, were rumoured to have high levels of raw magic too and in particular, Salazar Slytherin. There is a small mention of his eyes changing colour when he performed difficult spells."

"So you think Harry has inherited this from Salazar Slytherin?" Ginny asked, thinking about Harry's Slytherin connection.

"Yes, he got it from Voldemort." Hermione said quietly. "Who obviously got it from his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin."

"Do you think, if we have any children, they'll too...you know, be like Harry?" Ginny asked.

"It depends," Hermione answered. "It all comes down to how much raw magic they possess." she explained. "Look at Damien, he's Harry's brother but he can't change his eye colour because he's not got as much raw magic as Harry."

"But that's probably because Damien doesn't have any connection to the Slytherin bloodline." Ginny argued. "Harry was marked as a descendant of Slytherin. Maybe that's why he's got so much raw magic."

"There are many Slytherin descendants that didn't have a high level of raw magic. Voldemort was born with an exceptional amount of raw magic, like Harry." Hermione explained. "If your children are born with a high level of raw magic then yes, they'll probably be able to change their eye colour. Otherwise, they will be just like me or you." 

Ginny nodded her head in understanding.

"So if you have a high level of raw magic, that's when your eyes change?" Ginny asked.

"It's not as simple as that." Hermione took a breath. "You see when the magical core is utilised, it connects with the brain which in turn sends the magic through the nervous system as minuscule particles of electric energy. This magical energy travels through the body, looking for an outlet. That is why we use wands. The core in our wands attracts this energy and that is how we can cast spells, charms and hexes. That is also why only the most experienced witches and wizards can do wandless magic. It takes incredible skill to be able to control the magical energy and use it without the help of a wand." Hermione looked at Ginny in the eye as she continued. "However, when an individual has more raw magic, their magical core is more, well, sensitive. It sends a thunderous amount of magical energy through the body, which is why the more raw magic one possesses the stronger they are. But the body has to adapt to deal with this electrical energy. The colour of the eyes changes in response to the millions of particles of magic coursing through the body. It is supposed to be an indicator of sorts, the mind sends this change to the body, to alert the individual that they are doing too much magic."

"Is it a warning? Is it dangerous to do too much magic?" Ginny asked, worried beyond measure now.

"It's not dangerous. Too much magic will cause magical exhaustion, that is the only danger." Hermione answered.

"But, I don't understand. Harry's eyes changes when he's angry, not only when he's doing magic." Ginny said.

"This is where things get a little complicated." Hermione replied. "Voldemort brought Harry up, training him to use his magic as an instinct. This is what makes Harry different, it's why he can do magic that most others can't. This is consequently what he's trying to teach others. Harry's duelling class is successful because he's teaching them how to use their magic as an instinct. The effect instinctual magic has is that Harry is doing magic without really thinking about it and when he gets angry, his magic fires up, a defensive mechanism that Harry subconsciously controls. That's why he does magic when he's angry, without actually meaning to."

Ginny understood now.

"Does that mean if Harry continues to do instinctual magic, his eyes might change and stay that way?" Ginny asked.

Hermione looked sadly at her.

"I think so." she said quietly. "I'm sorry, Ginny. I know it's not what you want to hear but, from everything I've read, it seems Harry will eventually stay black eyed. But it's not the same as Voldemort." Hermione said. "Voldemort turned red eyed because he was doing dark magic. His eyes turned red and stayed that way because he put an incredible strain on his core by practising the dark arts. It takes an enormous amount of magical energy to do dark magic and that is why his eyes changed." she took a hold of Ginny's hand. "Harry's different. If his eyes change it's not because he's doing dark magic but because he's performing powerful magic, he's pushing his core to it's limit but he's not doing it to hurt others." Hermione pointed out.

"I know that, but what will the rest of the world think?" Ginny asked. "If they see Harry's eyes changed for good, they will only link him to Voldemort. They'll think it's Voldemort's legacy passed onto Harry."

"Harry's never cared what the world thinks of him." Hermione replied. "But he cares what you think." Ginny dropped her gaze, already ashamed to have said hurtful words to Harry. "You said seeing Harry's eyes change scared you because it reminded you of Voldemort." Hermione continued. "But Harry is not a monster. Harry will never hurt an innocent, he'll never stop caring for those he loves and no matter what colour his eyes are, he will always be Harry, the boy you fell in love with. That there is the difference between Harry and Voldemort."

Ginny looked up at Hermione with tears in her eyes.

"You're right!" she gasped. "Oh God, you're right! What's wrong with me?" she asked with a sob.

"Nothing is wrong with you." Hermione consoled. "You just got scared, everyone does." she comforted.

Ginny hurried to her feet.

"I've got to go and speak to Harry. I have to make it right with him." she paused, staring at Hermione. "Thanks Hermione. You're a really amazing friend."

Hermione just smiled back.

Ginny hurried outside so she could apparate back to her house and talk to Harry.

xxx

Ginny hurried inside, slamming the door to close behind her.

"Harry!" she called out. "Harry? Harry?"

There was no response. Harry wasn't home. Ginny hurried to the kitchen to look at the clock her mum had given her as a present. It was similar to the one at the Burrow but this clock only had two hands, one for Harry and one for Ginny. Harry's hand was currently resting at 'Gone out'. Ginny sighed loudly. She had no idea when he was going to come back and she really wanted to talk to him.

She checked the other clock, hanging next to the first one, and saw that it was almost three in the afternoon. She had practise in one hour's time. She hoped Harry was back before she had to leave for Quidditch practise.

xxx

It was ten to four and still no sign of Harry. Frustrated, Ginny wrote a quick note,

'_I had to go to practise but I really wanted to talk to you. I hope to see you when I get back. I'm sorry about what I said. Hopefully we'll talk when I get back. I love you. Ginny._'

She left the note on the kitchen table and turned to walk away, closing the light on the way out.

xxx

Practise was terrible. Ginny couldn't concentrate. All she wanted was to talk to Harry, to make up with him, to kiss him again and have him wrap his strong arms around her and hold her close.

She saw Brittany give her concerned looks throughout practise but she ignored them. At last, after three long, hard hours, Laura Wilson called it for the night. As soon as they landed on the ground, Brittany caught a hold of Ginny's arm.

"Hey? You okay? You were awful tonight!"

"Gee, thanks Brittany!" Ginny returned.

"You know what I mean." Brittany replied. "How are things? Are you still getting trouble from your stalker?"

Ginny shook her head.

"No, I don't even know what's happening with him." Ginny replied. "He could be caught for all I know. I've just...I've had other stuff on my mind."

Brittany gave Ginny a tight squeeze, a non verbal sign of comfort, before walking into the shower rooms. Ginny followed, hoping to see Harry when she returned home.

By the time Ginny had showered and changed, the rest of the team had left. She had taken longer than usual, her mind on what she would say to Harry and how to make up with him, so was left the last one to come out of the shower. She walked out of the changing room, hurrying to walk past the wards so she could apparate home. She was so preoccupied she didn't see the shadowed figure waiting behind one of the trees until it was too late.

"Ginny!"

The voice stopped her before her mind caught up with what was happening. She turned to the sound of the voice, to see the pimple faced boy hesitantly walk out from behind the tree. Ginny's eyes narrowed at the boy.

"You!" she said, recognising the boy as the one who had thrown the rock at Harry.

"Don't be afraid, please!" the boy said quickly, taking small steps towards her.

Ginny wasn't afraid, she was furious.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"I needed to see you." the boy said, shifting uncomfortably. "I wanted you to know that I meant you no harm."

Ginny felt an overwhelming desire to hex him, hard.

"You little...!" Ginny took in a breath, trying vainly to keep her temper. "Just...just get out of here! I never want to see or hear from you again!"

The boy hurried closer to her, his blue eyes fixed on her.

"Please, Ginny! You have to understand how I feel about you!" he said. "I love you, I really do! No one can love you as much as I do!"

Ginny refrained from pulling a face.

"Yeah, right." she muttered. "Now that you've told me, leave me alone!"

Ginny turned to walk away but felt a hand grab at her arm.

"Ginny! Please!" the boy grabbed at her to make her stay.

"Get your hands off me!" Ginny pushed the boy away, managing to free herself.

"You shouldn't be with someone like Harry!" the boy started, grabbing a hold of Ginny by her arms again. "He's not good enough for you!"

"What is the matter with you?" Ginny asked, in doubt over the boy's sanity.

"You shouldn't be with him! You're too good for him. You should be with someone like me! Someone who will love you and care for you!" the boy continued, pulling Ginny towards him.

Ginny pulled her arms out of the boy's surprisingly strong grip, pushing him away.

"Get away!" she yelled.

"Ginny! You have to understand!" the boy continued, a slight crazed look on his face. "He's not right for you! He's not right! You should be with me!"

Ginny had enough, she pulled out her wand and pointed it at him.

"Leave, right now!" she instructed. "I don't care what you think I _should_ be doing! It's my life and I will live it however I want." she said.

The boy just stared at her. His mouth opening and closing but no sound came from him.

"But...I...love you!" the boy stuttered.

"And I love Harry." Ginny stated.

"Glad to hear you say it."

Ginny turned around at the sound of his voice. She saw Harry standing behind her, smiling at her.

"Harry?" she whispered, surprised to see him.

Harry was by her side in a moment.

"I was waiting for you after reading your note. I wondered where you were." he looked over at the boy, staring dumbly at them. "I see why you were held up."

Ginny looked back at the boy before lowering her wand.

"It's fine. No big deal." she said. "Let's just go." she said to Harry. She just wanted to go home and talk to him.

Harry pulled his gaze away from the boy as Ginny slipped her hand into his. She tugged on it gently, leading him away from the boy, who was still standing quietly, just watching Ginny with Harry.

Both Harry and Ginny turned their backs on the boy, walking away. They only got a few steps away before they heard a strange sound. To Ginny it sounded like a '_click_', a sound she had never heard before. She only stopped because Harry stopped dead at the sound. Slowly, Harry turned around to see the boy holding something in his hand, aiming it at Harry.

Ginny saw the strange metallic object in the boy's hand but had no idea what it was. But she could tell from Harry's reaction that he knew what it was. All of a sudden, Harry seemed tense, on guard and nervous. That was what scared Ginny, that fact that Harry was nervous.

"Don't be stupid!" Harry told the boy who was aiming the metallic object at him.

"You think you can walk away with her and I'll let you?" the boy asked, his voice shaking as much as his hand.

"Do you really think you can pull the trigger before I get to you?" Harry asked with a growl.

Ginny felt her heart speed up. Pull the trigger? What did that mean?

The boy looked surprised as well.

"You know what this is?" he asked Harry. "You know and still you don't think a muggle weapon could kill you?" he asked, his voice trembling.

Ginny felt sick all of a sudden. The thing in his hand was a muggle weapon that could kill Harry.

"Not if I kill you first!" Harry answered, keeping his eyes on the pistol in the boy's hand.

The boy flinched, his firearm nearly slipping from his hand.

"Bullets are faster than spells." the boy stated.

"Are you sure about that?" Harry asked.

Ginny noticed Harry had slowly and discreetly moved so his body was shielding hers. He was standing in front of her, protecting her.

Harry's question confused the boy, he looked uncertain. He gripped at the gun clumsily, painfully making it obvious he had not handled the weapon before.

"There's only one way to tell." he said.

A thunderous sound, so loud it nearly popped her ears, exploded around them and Ginny screamed. A thin wisp of smoke was coming from the front of the weapon, confirming that it had been fired. The small bullet that sped towards Harry chest was too fast for Ginny to see but she saw Harry's hand lift, an incantation muttered from him and she felt the magic as it sizzled all around her. Before her eyes she saw a silvery, almost transparent, veil fall in front of them and not a millisecond later, a silver object hit the veil, becoming trapped in it. It took Ginny a moment to understand that the silver object caught by the veil was the bullet that was aimed to bury in Harry's chest, killing him.

Everything sped up after that. One moment Harry was standing in front of her and the next he had reached the stunned looking boy. With one hand, Harry grabbed at the boy's weapon yielding hand and with his other, he had grabbed him by the neck. A horrible crack echoed in the air and the boy screamed in pain as Harry broke his arm. The gun dropped to the ground with a thud. Harry raised his fist and punched the boy, making him fall to the ground, howling in pain.

"Oh my God!" Brittany's cry of shock made Harry and Ginny look up at her.

The brunette stared at the boy on the ground, cradling his broken arm. Her eyes found the gun lying on the ground and they widened in disbelief.

"That _was_ the sound of a gun!" she said, sounding horrified. "Oh God! Are you alright?" she asked.

Ginny could only nod at first.

"He tried to kill Harry." she said, wanting her friend to understand why the boy was on the ground with a bloody nose and a broken arm.

"Oh my God!" Brittany gasped again.

The sound of rushing feet and suddenly three security guards had reached them, having heard the gunshot.

"What is going on here?"

"What was that sound?"

Brittany jumped in to answer them and told them what happened.

"I was waiting for my friend when I heard the gunshot." she explained.

She confirmed the weapon lying on the ground was a gun, which was a muggle weapon designed to kill. Since she was a muggle born, the guards believed her. The guards quickly picked the boy up from the ground, informing him that they were going to bring him in to the Ministry, for attacking and trying to kill Harry Potter.

Brittany left with the guards, throwing Ginny a discreet look that told her she would contact her later so they could talk. Harry and Ginny were the left standing on the pitch. Ginny noticed that Harry was still standing with his back towards her.

Shakily, she reached out for him.

"Harry?"

Harry didn't move to face her.

"Harry?" Ginny called out again, taking a step nearer to him.

"Just...just give me a minute." Harry growled back, still facing away from her.

Ginny stopped short, realising why Harry wasn't meeting her gaze. She moved purposefully towards him, walking around him so she was face to face with him. She saw she was right; Harry's eyes were black and it looked like he was trying his best to calm down so they would go back to their normal green, but he was too angry to be able to calm down.

Ginny took in a breath and moved closer to Harry. She reached out, taking his face into her hands.

"Harry." she whispered.

Harry looked at her but quickly dropped his gaze.

"Just give me a minute. I know you don't like me when I look like this." Harry said, moving out of her grip and closing his eyes in concentration.

Those words broke something inside Ginny. She felt guilt well up inside her and it was all she could do not to break down.

"Harry, please..." she started.

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes closed tightly but he wasn't any calmer.

"Bloody bastard!" he hissed. "He could have hit you!"

The words hissed out from between clenched teeth told Ginny just how angry he was. If Brittany and the guards hadn't intervened, Harry would have killed that boy.

She moved closer to Harry and wrapped her arms around him before reaching up towards him and kissing him on the lips. Harry's eyes were startled open by the kiss and Ginny kept her eyes open purposefully, looking him deep in the eyes, not letting the black orbs deter her from making her point. She saw the black eyes began to brighten until the black was replaced by the vivid emerald green that had stolen her heart the first time she saw it

She pulled out of the kiss, still staring at Harry.

"I'm sorry." she whispered to him. "For everything I said. I take it all back." she smiled at Harry's expression. "Your eyes could turn neon yellow and it wouldn't stop me from loving you."

"There's an image." he chuckled softly.

"I shouldn't have said all that stuff to you." Ginny continued with her apology. "I didn't mean it."

Harry looked at her, keeping his eyes fixed to hers.

"Are you really afraid of me?" he asked, "because I don't care about anything else you said. Nothing else you said hurt but, if I scare you, then..."

"I'm not scared of you." Ginny said. "The only thing I was afraid of was that I might lose the beautiful green eyes that I searched so long and hard for." she smiled.

"And now you're okay with it?" Harry asked.

Ginny took a moment to answer.

"Yeah, because I have you and that's all that matters." she said.

Harry kissed her.

"As long as you're with me, I think I'll be fine." he said with a smile.

Ginny smiled and leaned in to embrace Harry.

"I'll always be with you, Harry." she murmured. "Always."

xxx


	4. The Wedding

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Massiel's Request - _a funny little one shot where Ginny's brothers are trying to act overprotective and give Harry, the 'Talk' to try to intimidate him and never hurt Ginny._

Wetboy's Request -_Harry and Ginny's wedding day. _

Dedicated to Massiel and Wetboy. Hope you like it :)

**The Wedding**

The sound of the doorbell chimed through Harry's two bedroom house, bringing him rushing out from the kitchen. He opened the door without checking first who was there, no matter how much James and Lily lectured him, he still couldn't get into the habit.

From all the possible visitors, Harry had never imagined he would open his door to _this_ particular group of five red heads. He paused, the door only half opened. His gaze darted from Bill's smiling face to Percy's nervous grimace to Fred and George's identical grins and then to Ron's apologetic smile.

"Hi, Harry." Ron greeted, rather meekly.

Harry's gaze went straight to Bill.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Does something have to be wrong for us to come to see you?" Bill asked with a laugh.

"Yes," Harry answered seriously. "What is it?" his eyes turned darker, "Is Ginny okay?"

"She's fine," Ron quickly answered, the last thing they needed was for Harry to get upset, thinking Ginny was in trouble.

"Actually, we're here because of her." Fred said.

"Can we come in or are we going to stand at your door all night?" George asked grinning.

Harry paused, seemingly thinking about it. Reluctantly, he opened the door wide, allowing the boys to come in.

"Something smells good." Fred said, sniffing the air, reminding Harry strongly of Sirius whenever he came to Potter manor.

"Yeah, I was...trying something." Harry said, clearly hating the fact that he was disturbed.

"Were you...are you...cooking?" Ron asked with surprise, picking up the unmistakable scent of lasagne.

Harry shot him a glare.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

"_You're_ making lasagne?" George asked, "when did you learn how to cook?"

Harry scowled at him.

"_I'm_ actually a very good cook!" he replied.

A look of understanding dawned on Ron's face and he smirked.

"You called your other self and asked him how to make lasagne, didn't you?"

Harry glared at him.

"Again, what is it you want?" he bit out, annoyed.

"You're obviously busy." Percy started, not looking Harry quite in the eyes. "You've still to have dinner, this is a bad time." he glanced to Bill. "We should go and let you have dinner. We can come back another time." he started towards the door but Bill stopped him.

"It's not going to take very long." he spoke more to Percy than Harry.

Harry, clearly eager to get whatever this was over and done with, ushered the five boys to his living room. They sat down, facing Harry.

"So," Harry started, thinking how to be nice and find out what Ginny's brothers wanted. He gave up. "What do you want?" he asked, getting straight to the point.

"To talk to you." Bill replied calmly.

"About what?" Harry asked.

"About Ginny," Ron said quietly.

Harry was surprised, he looked back to Bill but it was Fred who started the conversation.

"We figured since Ginny is staying at the Burrow until the wedding, now was a good time to have this..." he met his twin's eyes and smirked, "..._talk_ with you."

"With only a week left until the wedding, we decided tonight would be the night." George announced.

"Okay," Harry started slowly, "what is it?"

At this, all five boys diverted their gaze, glancing at each other but no one looked at Harry. Finally Bill moved, so he was perched at the edge of his seat.

"This...talk is...well, it's overdue." he started.

"Actually, we hoped we would never need to have this talk with you." Fred said. "We held back, hoping you and Ginny would break up."

"But you didn't, well, technically you did for a bit, but then you both went right back together again." George said, a mock look of annoyance on his face.

Harry's brow furrowed.

"Seeing that you are marrying her, heaven only knows why, we felt we had to talk to you, to..._explain_ a few things." Fred said.

A shadow of understanding crossed Harry's face and he relaxed back in his seat, his trademark smirk appearing.

"Really?" he asked, "and what was that, exactly?"

Fred opened his mouth but Bill held up a hand to quieten him. It was clear the eldest brother wanted to be the one who did the talking.

"Harry," he started in a subdued voice. "We know that you care very deeply for Ginny. You are about to marry her and I know that you wouldn't take that step if you didn't love her." Bill's eyes hardened a little. "But as Ginny's brothers, we want to make sure that you understand something." he locked eyes with Harry. "Don't think that just because you are powerful, you are untouchable. If you ever hurt Ginny, if you ever make her cry, you'll have all of her brothers to answer to."

"Being her husband, there will be times you will have disagreements," Percy said quietly. "That is between you and Ginny. No one will interfere." he assured.

"But if we find out that you are mistreating her, in any way," Fred said, "we'll come down on you."

"Like a house of bricks!" George added.

Harry's calm gaze went to Ron, the only one that hadn't spoken yet.

"She's our sister, mate," Ron said, his tone urging Harry to understand, "none of us will stand to see her hurt." he glanced at all his brothers before meeting Harry's gaze again. "We'll kick your arse if we have to, you know, before you kill us, painfully."

Harry resisted the urge to smile.

"You guys do know Ginny, right?" Harry asked. "Red hair, brown eyes, about 5ft 4, feisty enough to eat me alive if I ever mistreated her?"

Bill laughed, his tension dissipating. Percy let out a sigh of relief as well, smiling at Harry.

"We would pick up from wherever she left off." Fred joked.

Harry chuckled, shaking his head.

"You're...you're not mad?" Ron asked, surprised.

Harry shook his head.

"You're looking out for your sister. Frankly, I'd be mad if you didn't say anything." he looked to Bill, his expression becoming somewhat serious. "You're right about one thing, I do love Ginny. I could never mistreat her, not intentionally or otherwise." he glanced at Ron and smirked. "And for the record, the five of you against me," he pointed at all five boys and then to himself, "are you kidding me?"

Ron grinned, glad Harry was taking this in good faith.

"Actually it would be six against one." he said, "you're forgetting Charlie."

"Ah," Harry smirked. "Of course, Charlie. He only needs an excuse."

"Actually, he doesn't." George grinned.

"Well, it's very brotherly of you to warn me," Harry said rising from his seat, "but you have nothing to worry about. Ginny is and always will be my first priority. I could never hurt her." he smirked at the brothers, "which is just as well. Six against one it may be, but we all know who would win."

"Don't underestimate the power of the Weasleys!" Fred grinned. "We can be pretty lethal."

Harry grinned.

"So can I."

Percy, Harry noted, looked a little pale but the others were grinning.

"For our sister, we would take you on." George promised.

"You know Gryffindors," Ron stated standing up as well, "we always do the right thing, even if it kills us."

Harry laughed, slapping a hand on Ron's back.

"And indeed, it would." he assured.

Bill got to his feet, prompting the other three to get up as well.

"I'm glad you understand and you didn't get upset about us coming to you." he smiled. "I knew you would understand." he glanced back at Percy who only pushed his glasses further up his nose, ignoring Bill's smirk.

"Yeah," Harry glanced once at the clock on the wall. "Well, if that was all."

Bill started moving towards the door. Percy followed behind him.

"Before I go," Fred said, "I need to do one thing."

"What's that?" Harry asked with a sigh.

"I need to check what this lasagne looks like." he dashed towards the kitchen before Harry realised what he said.

"No, wait!" Harry darted after him.

The others followed behind.

Fred opened the kitchen door and froze.

"What the hell?"

The five Weasleys stared in disbelief at the kitchen table, set for two, flowers in a vase sat in the middle and two candles lit on either side. The worktops had a selection of dishes, ready. A bowl of salad, a long tray with garlic bread arranged along it, a bottle of wine was sitting inside an ice bucket and the lasagne was still in the oven, filling the kitchen with a delicious aroma.

Fred turned to stare at Harry.

"What is going on?" he asked, angry all of a sudden. "Who are you having dinner with?"

"None of your business!" snapped Harry, pulling Fred out of the kitchen so he could close the door.

"Harry?" Ron was shocked. "What is this?"

"It's nothing." Harry urged.

"Like hell it isn't!" Percy suddenly yelled, his previous fear evaporating fast. "Ginny isn't to see you before the wedding, so this obviously isn't for her! Who is this for? Who is she?" he demanded.

"Are you insane?" Harry asked, angry and annoyed. "I'm not cheating on Ginny!"

"So what is this?" Bill asked, calm but no less angry than his brothers. "Who are you having dinner with, Harry?"

The answer made herself known.

The sound of the front door opening caught everyone's attention.

"Harry!" came her voice from the hallway, making Harry groan and close his eyes. "I'm here. I thought I would never get away. Mum was trying to get me to have dinner but I told her I had a massage appointment. She'll probably try and feed me when I get back but I'll tell her I met a friend and went to dinner-"

Ginny opened the living room door, still talking, but stopped short at the unexpected sight of her brothers gathered around Harry.

"Bill!" she exclaimed. "Percy? Fred, wha- what are you guys doing here?" she asked.

"We could ask you the same." Ron replied, turning to face his sister.

Ginny met Harry's eyes, nervous all of a sudden.

"I was...I needed to, um, pick up something from my room." she lied, unconvincingly.

"Ginny." Bill warned.

Ginny gave up.

"Oh, alright!" she sighed, "I was having a secret date with Harry."

The five boys turned to look at Harry.

"I knew you weren't cheating on her." Ron said, smiling with relief.

"Of course I wasn't!" Harry bit back. "I wouldn't do that."

"Good to know." Fred said, smiling apologetically at him.

"What are you talking about?" Ginny asked.

"Nothing and shouldn't you be the one doing the explaining?" George asked.

"There's not much to it." Ginny replied. "I've been sneaking out to see Harry for the last few days."

"You only moved back to the Burrow four days ago." Ron said in astonishment.

"This is a stupid tradition!" Ginny exclaimed. "Why can't I see the man I'm about to marry, before the marriage? It doesn't make sense!"

"Regardless, you promised mum you would do as she asked." Bill scolded. "She asked you to stay away and not see Harry until the wedding, that is the family tradition and you agreed to it."

Ginny pouted, unable to help herself.

"It's not fair!" she complained. "I've lived with Harry for two years now! What difference will it make if I stay with him the week leading up to the wedding?"

"You'll have to ask mum." Bill replied.

"We're going home." Percy marched up to her, gripping her from the arm. "Come along now."

Ginny pulled out of his grip.

"Excuse me? I'll go home when I want to." she snapped.

"Ginny." Bill warned again.

Ginny faltered, Bill was the only one she couldn't argue with or contradict. Being the eldest, he had an authoritative stance that she couldn't fight.

"Come on, Bill," she pleaded. "It's just dinner. Don't tell mum and I'll be home before you know it."

Bill smirked and shook his head.

"I don't think so." he said. "I had to do the same before I married Fleur. It's tradition and you're following it, whether you like it or not."

Ginny looked to Harry as Bill walked over to her and took her arm, Percy taking the other, preparing to march her back home.

"Guys, come on," Harry tried. "What's the big deal?" he moved towards them but Ron and the twins playfully blocked him, smirking at him.

"Sorry, Potter." Ron teased. "It's tradition."

"Say goodnight, Ginny." Fred said with a smirk.

Ginny glared at him but threw Harry a longing look.

"Night, night, Harry." George teased as he and Fred followed behind Bill and Percy.

"Guys, really?" Harry called after them as they escorted Ginny to the door. "It's just dinner! Oh, come on! I cooked for bleeding sake!"

Ron patted his shoulder and smiled.

"You don't want to anger my mum, mate. Trust me, she's very strict when it comes to traditions." he followed his brothers and sister out the door.

Harry glowered after them.

"I hate traditions!" he muttered.

xxx

"You don't know that's true!" Ron argued.

"According to my sources, it's very true." Damien replied.

"Your sources!" Ron snorted. "Like who?"

"I have plenty of sources!" Damien defended. "_Anonymous_ sources!"

Hermione sighed, leading the two bickering men to the front door of the Burrow. Honestly, the two hadn't changed much from their teenage years, not when it came to Quidditch anyway.

All three walked inside, having no need to knock on the door. The front door of the Burrow was always left open, on Molly's orders of course.

Hermione, Ron and Damien made their way across the empty kitchen, heading to the living room.

"Honestly, you don't know anything about anonymous sources!" Damien said.

"That's kind of the point, they're _anonymous!_" Ron pointed out.

"You know what I meant!" Damien snapped back.

"Seriously, you two, quit it!" Hermione interrupted, having had enough.

All three walked into the living room, still in mid conversation, but stopped at the sight before them.

"Oh," Hermione's eyes widened. "Ginny! What's wrong?"

Ginny looked up from her tissue, sniffing and rubbing at her red rimmed eyes and wet cheeks.

"Nothing! It's...nothing! I didn't hear you guys come in." she tried in vain to hide the scattered tissue papers surrounding her on the sofa but it was too late, they had seen her.

"Gin!" Ron was at her side in a flash. "What's wrong?"

Ginny began shaking her head but fresh tears had already sprung to her eyes.

"Ginny, why are you upset?" Damien asked as he sat next to her, Hermione knelt before her.

Ginny gave up trying to hide and dissolved into tears.

"It's...Charlie." she said.

"Charlie?" Ron asked, his brow furrowed. "What's he done now?"

Ginny took a moment to compose herself. She sat up, making an effort to keep from crying.

"He sent back his RSVP." she said sniffing. "He's not coming to the wedding."

Ron, Damien and Hermione fell silent, sharing a look amongst them.

"I mean, I knew he was having problems accepting me and Harry," Ginny went on, "but I honestly thought after years of me and Harry being together, he would be over it by now." she wiped at her eyes, "but he's still the same, still resentful, still...hurtful."

"To hell with him!" Ron said, angrily. "If he doesn't want to be part of your big day, then so be it!"

Ginny looked at Ron with saddened eyes.

"He's my brother," she stated, "I can't just push him aside and forget that he exists."

"If he doesn't want to come, Ginny, then there's not much you can do but ignore it." Hermione said gently.

Ginny nodded her head.

"I know that," she replied. "It's just, it's hard to ignore your blood." she went quiet, pulling at the tissue in her hands. "Charlie and I were very close." she reminded them. "He taught me how to fly, told me stories about dragons, took me to my very first Quidditch match and he was the only one to take my side when the rest of my brothers didn't." she wiped at her eyes as fresh tears appeared, "and now, he's not going to be there, on the most important day of my life, my brother is not going to be there." she sobbed.

"The rest of your brothers will be there." Ron comforted.

"I know and I'm thankful, really I am." Ginny said, taking Ron's hand in hers. "It's...if Charlie had simply said no to the invitation I would have pretended to myself that he couldn't make it. That maybe he really wanted to come but he couldn't because of work or a hundred other things." she shook her head. "But he didn't just say no, he sent a letter with his RSVP, telling me exactly why he wasn't going to come. He said a lot of things which really hurt."

"Like what?" Damien asked.

"He told me that he wasn't going to come to the wedding and watch me ruin my life." she replied. "He said he wasn't going to be a part of my life if I was going to throw it all away by marrying Harry."

Damien's jaw clenched in anger, his hands curling into fists.

"What's his problem?" he spat. "Get over it already!"

Ginny shook her head again slowly, biting her bottom lip.

"After I read his letter, I realised, I'm never going to see him again." she said quietly. "Charlie's made it clear that he doesn't want to be a part of my life if I marry Harry. That is why he's not coming to the wedding. And that got me thinking, what's going to happen on Christmas? If I come to the Burrow with Harry and Charlie is here, he'll walk out. Or what if I want all my family with me at Christmas? Charlie will be the only one missing. And what about when I have kids. They won't know their uncle Charlie. He won't want to know them." she cradled her head into her hands and tried to stop but the tears just came back with vigour.

"Ginny," Hermione knelt on her knees and hugged her, rubbing her back. "This is Charlie's decision, he's the one blocking you out. He might change his mind in the future."

"I've been with Harry for seven years." Ginny pointed out. "If he's not accepted us now, he never will."

"You know what?" Ron said, "You're right. If after _seven_ years, Charlie still hasn't accepted your relationship with Harry, then he never will." he ran a hand over her hair, comforting his younger sister. "So to hell with him." he said. "You do what makes you happy and in the last seven years, what makes you happy is being with Harry."

"Exactly," Damien added, "and if Charlie can't see that, then he's the idiot!"

Hermione pushed Ginny's hair away from her forehead.

"It'll be okay, Gin, just follow your heart and everything else will fall into place soon enough."

Ginny nodded, dropping her gaze back to her lap, back to Charlie's letter.

"You better dry those tears." Damien warned, brushing his thumb across her wet cheek. "Harry's on his way and if he sees tears in your eyes," he shook his head, "we don't need black eyed explosions three days before the wedding, do we?"

Ginny smiled, brushing a hand over her eyes.

"You're right," she pushed aside the blanket and stood up. "I better fix myself up. Mum will be here with the caterer any time soon." she smiled. "Listen, don't say anything to Harry about Charlie's letter. I don't want him annoyed at Charlie."

"You sure?" Ron asked. "I think that's just what Charlie needs, a little black eyed magic."

Ginny made her way to the bathroom, so she could wash her tear soaked face before her mum and soon-to-be-mother-in-law arrived with the caterer to go over the absolute final food arrangement. They had been arguing over what the wedding buffet was going to be for weeks now. Finally, they were going to bring the caterer here where she and Harry could make the final decisions, with a little input from Ron, Hermione and of course, Damien.

Ginny hurried into the bathroom, drying her tears. She wanted to make sure she looked okay, so Harry didn't pick up on the fact that she was upset. What she didn't know was that Harry had arrived earlier than expected and had stood in the kitchen, listening to her entire conversation.

xxx

Charlie pulled off his gloves, flexing his fingers to get the ache out of them. He had been working ten hours straight, but still couldn't reign in that last Peruvian Vipertooth. He was ready to call it quits for the day and go home.

"Yo! Weasley!"

Charlie looked around and found Scott Hannigan, his fellow dragon keeper, waving him over.

"Yeah?"

"Got a new admission." Scott said.

"Can you take it?" Charlie asked, "I'm beat, I'm just on my way home."

"The guy asked for you by name. He wants you to be the one dealing with it."

Charlie's brow furrowed. He was asked for by name? Who could be turning in a dragon that knew him well enough to ask for him? He nodded at Scott and started making his way to the private admission room, tiredly pulling on his gloves again.

He walked into the room and stopped dead at the sight.

"What are you doing here?" Charlie asked, closing the door behind him.

Harry smiled at him, leaning casually against the wall.

"Handing in a dragon egg." Harry gestured to the box lying on the desk between them.

Charlie kept his eyes on Harry.

"Where did you find a dragon egg?" he asked crossly.

Harry smirked.

"You can find anything you want, as long as you know where to look."

Charlie squared his shoulders, his brown eyes fixed on Harry.

"You came all the way to Romania, to hand in a dragon egg you purchased?" he asked.

"I was going to bring flowers, but I thought you would like a dragon's egg better."

Charlie's jaw clenched, fists curled tight. He really had no patience when it came to Harry Potter.

"What do you want?" he snapped.

Harry moved away from the wall, straightening up. He walked towards him.

"Got your RSVP." he said. "Ginny was quite upset."

Charlie sneered at him.

"She's my sister, Potter." he hissed. "I can say whatever I want to her, who are you to interfere?"

"I'm not interfering." Harry said. "I just thought you might like to know what your letter did to her."

A blush, faint and hardly noticeable, began to creep up Charlie's neck and ears. He stubbornly held Harry's gaze.

"I didn't want to upset her." he stated. "That wasn't my intention. But I'm entitled to my opinion."

Harry nodded.

"Of course you are, just like I am." he stared Charlie in the eyes. "You are a pathetic, miserable idiot!" he said. "Did you really think if you said no to the invitation, Ginny wouldn't marry me?"

Charlie held Harry's gaze.

"Of course not." he said bitterly. "I knew she would still go ahead and make the biggest mistake of her life!" he glared at Harry. "I only told her what I felt. That I couldn't stand there and watch her ruin her life!"

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Please, keep your melodrama to yourself." he said. "I'm not here to listen to your crap."

"So why are you here?" Charlie asked angrily.

Harry drew closer, standing so close to the other boy he could easily count the freckles on his face. "You don't like me and I don't like you." he stated quietly. "That will probably never change. So if you don't come to my wedding, it doesn't bother me." he stared at Charlie, "but it does bother Ginny. It upsets her, the idea that one member of her family is refusing to be a part of her life." He stepped away, slowly walking around Charlie. "Taking out your anger at me by not attending your sister's wedding, will only ruin your relationship with Ginny. It won't affect me in anyway and neither will it weaken Ginny's relationship with me." Harry arrived at the door behind Charlie and stopped next to it, a hand already on it. "I'll have my whole family with me on my wedding day, every single person I care about will be by my side. It's a shame Ginny can't have the same."

Charlie turned around to face Harry, but Harry had said what he had come to say. He opened the door and walked out, not looking back once at Charlie.

xxx

The day was finally here. The sun was shining brightly, the sky was clear and as blue as it could be on a summer's day. The altar was set up, under the open sky, a silvery white canopy framing it. Rows of chairs were lined up, each one draped in the softest silvery white silk. Bouquets of flowers were arranged at each end of the rows, hovering in mid air.

Two luxury tents were set up, one for the quests and one for the bride. Hermione was rushing from one tent to the other.

"Ron!" she called urgently. "Ron!"

A smartly dressed Ron hurried to the mouth of the tent.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I can't find my safety pins." she flustered. "Have you see them?"

"Um," Ron pointed at her shoulder strap. "Aren't those safety pins, fastened to your strap."

Hermione looked over to her right shoulder and let out a relieved gasp.

"Oh thank goodness!" she reached out to unclasp the bunch. "I pinned them to myself to keep them safe and then forgot all about them!" she smiled. "Thanks Ron!"

"Hermione, you okay?" Ron asked, staring worriedly at his fiancé.

"Honestly, no," Hermione whispered. "It's chaotic over there." she gestured to the tent behind her, where Ginny was getting ready. "Between Mrs Potter and your mum, I'm going insane! Mrs Potter wants one thing and Mrs Weasley wants the opposite. I've already had to do and then re-do about ten different things." she shook her head. "Weddings are just too stressful!"

"You want to reconsider ours?" Ron asked hopefully. "Instead of all of this again in six months, how about we just set off and elope?"

Hermione smiled at him.

"Nice try, but no." she stated. "However chaotic it is, I want this for my wedding, sorry, our wedding." she corrected. "At least on my wedding, I won't be the one doing all the running around."

Ron sighed, nodding his head. It was worth a shot.

"Right!" Hermione smoothed down her dress and flashed a smile at Ron. "See you soon!" and off she ran, unsteadily in her high heeled shoes, off to the other tent.

She hurried inside and held out the bunch of safety pins.

"Ah, you found them!" Mrs Weasley grabbed them from her, "Thank you, Hermione dear," she kissed the girl on the cheek and hurried off to find Fleur.

Hermione sighed in relief and brushed a hand over her hair, pushing back strands that had already started to fall out from her hairdo. She muttered a few choice words to herself as she hurried to one of many tall mirrors hovering around the tent and started fixing her hair. Her hands dropped away from her hair however when she caught sight of the bride's reflection in her mirror. She turned around with her mouth hanging open.

Ginny had stepped out from her private room, fully ready. Her white wedding ball gown stole away everyone's breath. The lace bodice was cinched at the waist, the full skirt falling to the floor, hiding her feet from view. The sleeve- like straps fell around her shoulders and her veil was sitting perfectly, a glittering tiara crowning her. Her red hair was arranged in beautiful curls that fell down to her back, visible through the veil.

Ginny beamed at the stunned faces of her mother, mother-in-law and her bridesmaids, Hermione and Fleur.

"Oh, Ginny!" Lily gushed, her eyes wide and filled with awe.

Ginny smiled happily, running a hand down her wedding dress.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"I think...I...you look..." Hermione stammered, trying to get the right choice of words out.

"You look beautiful!" Molly hurried to kiss her daughter.

"Harry iz going to faint when he zees you." Fleur joked, reaching over to fix her veil.

Ginny laughed, running a hand down her dress nervously. Hermione had reached her side and was fixing the straps that hung off her shoulders, straightening them. She beamed at Ginny.

"It's almost time," she told the bride. "You ready?"

Ginny took in a breath.

"Ready." she confirmed.

Molly handed her the bridal white flowers bouquet and Ginny took them with slightly trembling fingers.

She was led to the mouth of the tent by Fleur, Hermione and Molly, where Arthur was waiting, to walk his only daughter down the aisle.

xxx

Ginny walked, arm-in-arm with her father, who was leading her with pride, down the aisle. Her niece, Victoire was the flower girl, dropping white rose petals in her path. Ginny tried but failed to keep calm at the sight of the guests, who had all stood up as soon as she arrived. There were so many people! So many faces, some she recognised, others she didn't. Her grip around her father's arm tightened as nerves got the best of her. Arthur's hand came to rest on hers.

"It's okay, darling." he soothed. "Just look in front, at who is waiting for you."

Ginny did just that, tearing her gaze away from the guests to the man standing before her. Harry's emerald green eyes were fixed on her and at meeting them, Ginny felt that wonderful tingle run through her again, calming her instantly. Harry was smiling, not his usual sarcastic, half-hearted smile, but a true smile, one that reached his eyes and spread such warmth in them, it made his already mesmerising eyes more captivating. Ginny was lost in them, the green eyes that had stole her heart the very first time she saw them. Ginny smiled back as she neared him, taking in the sight of Harry, the man she was about to marry. The man she had spent the last seven years with. The man she was going to spend the rest of her life with.

"I'm so happy for you, Ginevra." Arthur whispered softly to her.

Ginny looked at him and squeezed his hand.

"I'm happy too." she whispered back.

"Well, I think this will make you even happier." Arthur said. At Ginny's confused look he smiled, "Look to your right."

Ginny turned her head in that direction, her eyes searching past all the smiling faces of the guests. He caught her stare very suddenly, making Ginny almost pause mid step. Charlie smiled at his sister, nodding his head in acknowledgement of her. Ginny's joy almost burst out of her. Her smile was big enough to show Charlie just how heartbroken she would have been if he hadn't come.

Ginny turned back to her father, speechless with happiness. Arthur smiled back at her and walked the last steps up to arrive at the altar. He graciously handed Ginny's hand to Harry, giving him the one thing he treasured the most, with the full confidence that Harry would take care of her.

xxx

The reception party allowed everyone to relax, even the stressed out Hermione. She giggled as Ron tried dancing with her, swinging his arms around clumsily. Lily and James danced slowly, arms around one another, watching the party with blissfully happy expressions. They looked at their eldest son, his newly pronounced wife in his arms, swaying to the music. The First dance was over but both the bride and groom seemed much too happy to leave the dance floor.

Damien was drunk, his girlfriend Annie in his arms, laughing as she tried to avoid his wild dance moves. Draco and his wife of three months, Astoria, were sitting at one of the tables, drinking champagne, their hands interlinked under the table. Remus and Tonks were sitting at another table, laughing heartily as their son Ted chased Victoire around the tent. Bill's daughter was finally rescued by a ten year old Nigel, who picked Ted up and slung him over his shoulder playfully, carrying him out of the tent.

The song finished and Ginny reluctantly stepped out of her husband's embrace. Both decided to take a break and get some drinks. Near the table, Ginny spotted her brother, talking with a teary-eyed Molly. Ginny hurried over to his side.

Charlie turned around as Ginny approached him. His sister's blissfully happy smile had him smiling too. He opened his arms and Ginny quickly stepped into her brother's embrace, feeling tears sting her eyes as she hugged her brother for the first time in _years_.

"Congratulations." Charlie whispered in her ear.

"Thank you." Ginny replied softly. She pulled away so she could look into his eyes. "I'm so glad you came." she said sincerely. "Thank you, Charlie."

Charlie glanced over and looked at Harry, busy talking with Frank, having a drink.

"I'm glad I came too." he said. He looked at Ginny and grinned. "You look beautiful, by the way."

Ginny laughed.

"Yeah, who knew?" she joked.

Charlie cupped her cheek in his hand, his eyes softer than she had seen them in a while.

"I'm sorry for hurting your feelings." he apologised. "I wish you every happiness in the world, I hope you know that."

Ginny leaned in and hugged her brother once more.

"Are you staying?" she asked.

"Just one night. I have to be back in Romania tomorrow." he answered.

Ginny pulled back again and smiled at him.

"You made this day perfect, Charlie." she said.

Charlie only smiled back.

xxx

Ginny found Harry by the drinks table, talking with Frank, laughing about something. She walked over to him, linking a hand into his. Harry turned to her, smiling. Ginny pulled at his hand, leading him once more to the dance floor and put both arms around him, swaying gently to the slow song.

"Thank you." she uttered softly.

Harry grinned at her.

"I was going to marry you anyway." he said, "you don't have to thank me."

Ginny laughed, shaking her head.

"I wasn't thanking you about that." she said, "for that _you_ should be thanking _me_."

Harry chuckled.

"So why are you thanking me?"

Ginny stared into Harry's eyes.

"For Charlie." she answered.

Harry pretended to look surprised.

"Charlie?" he asked. "What about him?"

"You convinced him to come to the wedding." Ginny replied. "I don't know how you did it, but I'm eternally grateful that you did."

Harry shook his head.

"I didn't have anything to do with it. He must have decided to come on his own."

Ginny smiled.

"Everyone else had tried talking to Charlie; mum, dad, even Bill sent him a letter but Charlie refused them all." she didn't have to go onto her tiptoes to kiss Harry, because of her high heeled shoes. She pulled away, gazing into his eyes. "You're the only one who could have convinced Charlie to come to the wedding." she said, "and I'm glad that you did."

Harry finally gave up pretences and leaned in to kiss her again.

"Anything for my wife." he whispered.

xxx


	5. Kissing

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Toobadforyou's Request - _10 times Harry and Ginny got caught kissing._

Dedicated to Toobadforyou. I hope you like it!

WARNING : Suffice to say that this oneshot will have a lot of fluffy, romantic goings on.

The timeline for this is set through, A Part of Me. Enjoy!

**Kissing **

Harry darted into his bedroom, dragging a giggling Ginny behind him and quickly closed the door. He locked it with a wave of his hand and turned to lean against it. He pulled Ginny closer, smiling. They kissed; his mouth on hers, his hands holding her in a tight embrace. Ginny pulled away, breathless and blushing, brown eyes gleaming at him.

"Harry, _everyone's_ downstairs...!"

"Don't worry, they're busy with the party." Harry replied, moving to kiss her again.

Lips locked, Harry pushed against her, making her walk backwards, slowly guiding her to the bed. Ginny happily went along, breaking the kiss only when she felt the edge of the bed against the back of her knees. She fell back, taking Harry down with her, kissing him and giggling against his mouth.

Harry's hand slipped under her blouse. His fingers caressed her soft skin, stroking her stomach and sides, slowly inching upwards.

Ginny broke the kiss and tried to put everything she had into her stern look.

"Mr Potter." she muttered.

Harry jerked a little.

"Don't call me that," he growled, "that's my dad, and I don't want to think about _him_ right now."

Ginny smirked.

"I know," she teased. " but you're approaching dangerous territory," she glanced down at his hand, buried under her clothes, halfway up her torso, "a place, I'm sure you know, is off limits."

Harry smirked, his fingers inched upwards.

"Am I trespassing?" he asked.

Ginny glared at him, fighting with herself to stay strong.

"Loitering, more like it."

Harry chuckled, his fingers inched forward, resting just at the base of her bra.

"You know how I feel about forbidden fruit," he leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "The more you tell me not to," he planted small kisses along her neck, "the more I want to take a bite." he nipped at her shoulder, his teeth scratched at her soft skin.

Ginny moaned, it didn't hurt, not in the least. It actually felt _really_ good. A part of her wanted to throw her self made rules out of the window. But the other part of her, the one that sounded suspiciously like Hermione Granger, told her she had to keep strong and make Harry obey her rules.

"Harry."

The sound was half pleading, half strict.

Harry raised his head, smirking. Ginny narrowed her eyes, growling at him. She knew he was doing this on purpose. He took such delight in teasing her, driving her closer and closer to forsaking her _rules_. He moved his hand away, slipping it out without another word.

"You _are_ evil." Ginny pouted.

Harry laughed, leaning over to kiss her again.

"You knew I was a rule breaker before you got involved with me."

Ginny giggled.

"That's true." she wrapped both hands around his neck, pulling him closer so she could look into his eyes. "But you won't be breaking any of my rules." she challenged, even though she feared that eventually, it would happen.

Harry smiled at her, his eyes glinting mischievously.

"I would love to prove you wrong." he said, lowering his mouth onto hers.

Ginny clutched at him, her hands buried into his hair, pulling gently at his messy locks, getting lost in the passionate kiss.

"Well, isn't this awkward!"

The kiss broke as both Harry and Ginny turned to the door, to see the smirking man lean against the frame.

"Sirius!" Harry growled, "get out!"

"Now what kind of a responsible Godfather would I be, if I walked away and let you, a seventeen year old boy, continue?" Sirius asked, arms crossed over his chest.

"Sirius, get out before I throw you out!" Harry warned.

The Auror smirked, blue eyes twinkling at his godson.

"Not a chance." he teased.

Ginny squirmed under Harry, blushing furiously. She pushed Harry with both hands, but he didn't budge.

"Harry!" she finally had to hiss, "get up!"

With a glower at Sirius, Harry pulled himself off the bed and stood up. Ginny quickly righted herself, blushing harder as Sirius' bark like laughter boomed in the room.

"Tut tut!" Sirius teased, "I agree that your mum's _leaving-for-Hogwarts-tomorrow _party is exceptionally boring, but that doesn't mean you can ditch it and run off." he eyed the pair, grinning mischievously. "So, when did _this_ happen? I didn't know you two were dating."

"It's none of your business!" snapped Harry. "How did you even get in? I locked the door!"

"And I _unlocked_ it." Sirius grinned. "I know you forget sometimes, but _we_ are wizards too." he twirled his wand at him. "Now, behave yourselves and come downstairs." he turned to go but stopped to look at Harry once more. "Oh, and don't worry, I won't tell anyone about you two. I've had my fair share of secret hook ups. There's nothing quite like it..."

"Out!" Harry pointed a finger at the door.

Chuckling, Sirius left, closing the door behind him. As soon as he was gone, Ginny let out a groan and buried her face into Harry's chest. He wrapped his arms around her.

"That was mortifying!" she muttered against him.

"Sirius' the one that should be embarrassed!" Harry said. "What did he think he would walk on if he had to _unlock_ my door!"

Ginny looked up at him, still nestled inside his embrace.

"That's what makes it even more humiliating."

Harry took the opportunity and leaned down to kiss her.

"Well, tomorrow we're going to Hogwarts," he grinned, "there's no Sirius there."

xxx

Charms was taking forever to finish. Ginny tapped her foot rhythmically, willing time to speed up and make the last class on a Friday afternoon, end already. She was only half listening to Professor Flitwick. Her thoughts had long left the lecture and were currently on her boyfriend. It was crazy how excited she got at seeing him, sometimes in the school corridors, always in the Great hall at mealtimes and of course, evenings in the common room.

So far, they hadn't had much time to themselves. How could they, being in school and attending classes for most of the day and spending evenings surrounded by friends? Although, this morning's attempt at being alone had backfired spectacularly. Ginny felt her face heat up at the memory of Professor Potter coming into the room, while she was in Harry's bed. She shook her head, what must Lily Potter think of her? There was no way she would believe that Ginny was only in Harry's room, sitting on top of him, just because she wanted to _talk_ to him. Ginny promised herself she wouldn't make that mistake again. This weekend, Ginny had decided she was going to spend some alone time with Harry. Exactly how and where, she hadn't yet planned.

The surrounding students began to pack up their bags. Ginny looked around, startled. Class had finally ended. Quickly, she packed up her things and left, avoiding meeting the tiny professor's gaze, out of guilt of not listening to him.

_'Damn you, Harry!'_

It was of course, all his fault. He was always on her mind, so she could do little else but think of him. Even now, when she was walking along the corridor, heading for the grand staircase, so she could go to the seventh floor and drop off her bag in her dorm room, all she could do was think about Harry. Her eyes automatically searched through the crowd, for his mop of untidy hair.

She couldn't see him anywhere.

Arms suddenly appeared round her midriff, stopping her mid step. She felt her back press up against someone and warm breath tickled her cheek.

"You look distracted." His voice whispered in her ear, making her smile.

"I was looking for you." she replied.

She turned around to face Harry.

"You want to go outside?" he asked, tilting his head towards the main doors. "Just for a bit, before dinner?"

Ginny had noticed this about her boyfriend. He didn't like being indoors. He took every possible opportunity to go outside, in the open air.

"Sure," she smiled, "fresh air sounds good."

Harry tugged gently at her hand, leading her in the opposite direction to the rest of the students, and headed for the main doors. They walked out into the dwindling sunlight, the sky an array of oranges and red, casting glowing shadows across the grounds.

They walked in silence, no longer holding hands. Their slow steps lead them to the Great lake and both stopped to stare at the lazy giant squid, raising a tentacle out of the water. Without saying a word to each other, both sat down at the edge of the lake.

Past them, a group of Ravenclaw students hurried inside, heading back from Herbology. Behind them were two Aurors, that had arrived earlier that day, for the Duelling club. They were conversing with Professor Sprout, heading inside for dinner. Ginny felt Harry tense next to her. She didn't have to look at him to know he had his wand clutched in his hand. She turned to look at him. He was staring at the Aurors, his green gaze never wavering from them until the two men had walked past the main doors, with Professor Sprout and the Ravenclaw students. Only then, did Harry relax a little.

Ginny reached out, her hand coming to rest on his clenched fist, in which his wand was still gripped tight. Harry turned to look at her, startled at her touch. He looked away, pulling his hand away to pocket his wand.

"Old habits." he muttered, his eyes flashed at the main doors, through which the Aurors had disappeared into the castle. "But with Aurors, it never hurts to be prepared, you never know."

Ginny's heart missed a beat.

"They're not after you anymore." she said quickly.

Harry turned to look at her, his eyes dancing with dark amusement.

"For now." he corrected.

Ginny shook her head.

"Not ever again."

Harry chuckled.

"Your naivety is just as frustrating as it is endearing."

Ginny moved closer, her hand wrapped around his, fingers tightening.

"What do you mean?"

"The Ministry changes heart as and when it suits them." Harry answered. "For now, they're happy to ignore me. But it won't take much to set them off again." he met her worried gaze, "The majority of Aurors can't take it that I'm still around. I can see it in their eyes. I'm just as much as an enemy to them today as I was a year ago."

"Not to all of them," Ginny disagreed. "My dad doesn't think you're the enemy, neither does your dad or Sirius or Remus. And what about Mr and Mrs Longbottom? They're your friends. And Tonks likes you just as much as she likes Ron and Damy." she saw his expression soften a little at the mention of Tonks. "Not all Aurors are your enemy." she said, "you have to start believing that."

"Family's different," he argued. "Dad and Sirius and Remus are not Aurors, not the typical type anyway. And Frank and Alice are...different too."

"You're making excuses, and not very good ones." Ginny smiled.

"I'm not," Harry defended. "they're not the typical brash, idiotic, senseless morons that usually get recruited by the Ministry."

"Is that right?" Ginny asked.

"I've met more Aurors than you, I know what I'm talking about."

"That may be the case, but I'm better at reading people, and I say that not all Aurors are idiotic." Ginny replied.

Harry laughed.

"Better at reading people?" he asked, "alright, so why didn't you read me correctly when we first met?"

Ginny frowned.

"What do you mean?" she asked, "I read you perfectly accurately."

"You thought I was a cold blooded, cruel, heartless monster." Harry reminded.

"Yes," Ginny answered, "and your point is?"

Harry threw her a look, making her giggle.

"Okay, okay, I admit, I was wrong about you." she moved closer to him, reaching out to gently push his unruly hair away from his forehead. "but you pretend to be cruel and act like a monster sometimes," she gazed into his eyes, "but you're not heartless, not at all. In fact, you've got the biggest, most loving heart that I know."

Harry chuckled.

"Is that right?"

Ginny leaned closer.

"You know it's true," she whispered, her lips just touching his. "You pretend and act one way, but I can see your truth."

"Ginny..."

"Don't," Ginny hushed, her lips met his in a soft kiss, "don't tell me I'm wrong." she said in between gentle kisses. "You can't see what I see."

"What's that?" Harry asked, his voice a whisper.

Ginny smiled.

"Your pure heart." she kissed him deeply.

A yelp followed by a dull thud and suddenly the sound of a loud splash had Ginny break the kiss and look around. Her eyes met a strange sight. A mop of bright pink hair was bobbing in the lake, surrounded by a lot of splashing.

Harry and Ginny shot to their feet, their wands in their hands. Harry was faster. The jet of light hit the pink target and pulled it clean out of the water. Tonks came spluttering out, landing with a thud on the grass.

"Oh my God!" Ginny was by her side, helping the drenched woman to her feet. "Are you alright?"

Tonks was coughing, spitting out water.

"Oh...ye-yes! I...I'm f-fine..."

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"I...I was heading back to the...the castle and...and I saw you two so...so I thought I should say hi." Tonks coughed dramatically, breathing heavily, "but I...I saw you two were...erm...busy, so...so I turned to sneak back and...and I slipped and fell into the lake." Tonks' cheeks coloured to match her pink hair.

"You were spying on us?" Ginny asked, horrified.

"No!" Tonks shook her head, spraying both Harry and Ginny with droplets of water. "I didn't mean to! I just thought I should come over and...and say hi. How was I supposed to know you two would start making out! I didn't even know you were together!"

Ginny felt her face burn but she stubbornly held Tonk's gaze.

"What is up with today?" Harry asked, smirking. "First mum catches us in bed and now Tonks sees us."

Tonks nearly slipped again. She turned to stare at Ginny with wide round eyes, her hair turning bright red.

"Whoa! Whoa!" she held up a hand, "in bed? What...!"

"It's not like that," Ginny hurried to explain.

"It better not be missy!" she held up a finger. "You're too young!"

Ginny frowned at her.

"Excuse me? I'm sixteen!"

"Exactly, you're only a child!" Tonks turned to Harry, hands on her waist. "and you mister, do you want the Weasley men after your blood? Cause I'll tell you one thing, that lot is crazy!"

"Tonks!" Ginny yelled to get her attention. "Nothing happened. I was only talking to Harry while he was still in bed."

"Oh," Tonks deflated, her hair shimmering to a plum purple. "Sorry, I just thought..." she smiled sheepishly at Harry. "Well, all I can say is," she nodded at Ginny, "good luck! Dating the only girl in any family is tough, but with Arthur and the boys," she shook her head, "just as well you can hold your ground."

Harry chuckled, looking highly amused as he stood there, with his arms crossed, grinning at Tonks.

"Uh, Tonks?" Ginny got her attention. "Shouldn't you be going inside now? You should do something about your wet clothes."

Tonks waved her wand and her clothes and hair became a soggy mess.

"Damn, I better go and change." she started towards the castle but stopped to look around at them. "It's time for dinner, you two better get inside."

Ginny nodded at her.

Tonks turned to go, walking unsteadily down the path. Ginny turned to see Harry smirking at her.

"What were you saying?" he teased.

Ginny huffed.

"Aurors are idiots!" she grumbled.

xxx

"It really is beautiful up here."

Ginny marvelled at the sight, the tiny glittering stars, scattered so perfectly across the dark canvas of the night's sky. She leaned against the railings of the Astronomy tower, letting the cold breeze wash over her, whip into her hair and tickle her face. Harry's warm embrace enveloped her from behind.

"I thought you might like this." he chuckled, next to her ear.

"It is strange," Ginny started, "that you came up with having a date on the Astronomy tower." she turned around to face him. "Admit it, it wasn't your idea."

Harry pretended to look affronted.

"It was too!"

"Come on, Potter, admit it."

Harry gave in and grinned.

"Well, I said it more as a joke, but then I figured, why the hell not."

"Who were you joking with?" Ginny asked.

"Mum."

Ginny looked horrified.

"You were talking to your mum about me? What did you say? No, forget that, that's not important, what did _she_ say?"

"Nothin," Harry shrugged, "she said I should take you out on a date and I joked, I should take you on a moonlit walk on the Astronomy tower."

"She wanted you to take me out on a date?" Ginny asked, gaping hard. "Well, I guess that's a good sign."

"Good sign?" Harry frowned.

"Ever since your mum found me in your room, in your bed," Ginny blushed again at the memory, "I've been terrified that she hates me. But if she told you to go on a date with me, then that must mean she doesn't hate me, and she's okay with you dating me, right?"

"I guess," Harry shrugged, "does it really matter what she thinks?"

Ginny gave him a look.

"Of course it matters!" she replied. "She's your mum! I don't want her thinking bad of me."

"Why would she think bad of you?" Harry asked with a chuckle.

"She saw me in your bed, sitting on top of you." Ginny reminded, her stomach churning in embarrassment. "It's not exactly a great moment to be found by your boyfriend's mum!"

"It was a great moment for me." Harry teased, pulling her closer.

"I'm serious, Harry." Ginny said, pulling away. "I mean it's bad enough that Tonks and Sirius have walked in on us kissing, but your mum had to see it too!" she bit her lip, shaking her head in self incrimination. "God, why does this always happen to me! Every time there's even the _slightest_ chance something humiliating can happen, it _always_ does! It's like..."

Harry reached out and pulled her towards him, his lips pressing against hers in a sudden kiss. Ginny recovered, stumbling back a step when he released her from the slow kiss. She smiled dreamily at him.

"What was that for?" she asked, breathlessly.

"To shut you up." Harry replied with a smirk.

"Jerk!"

Ginny made to pull away but Harry had grabbed both of her arms and pulled her closer, grinning at her. He leaned in to whisper.

"I'm just kidding," he trailed his fingers across his cheekbone, ghosting over her lips. "You tempted me, by biting your lips. You shouldn't do that in front of me," he moved closer, his lips almost touching hers, "unless you want me to do it too."

He kissed her again, but this time, he nipped gently at her bottom lip.

Ginny moved closer, returning the kiss passionately. Her hands travelled up into his hair and she pulled him closer. She bit his bottom lip, a little harder than he had done, but he didn't pull away or complain.

They had to break for air, but both did so reluctantly, breathing in greedily. Harry backed Ginny into a wall and pressed her against it, before leaning in to kiss her again. They were both lost in the kiss, hands roaming each others bodies, pulling at each others clothes. Ginny's fingers quickly undid the buttons to Harry's shirt and pulled it off, revealing his bare torso. Ginny felt two of her buttons pop off completely as Harry tugged at her shirt. He didn't pull it completely off, but parted it enough to run his hands down her front. He held onto her, his fingers digging into her sides as his kisses moved from her lips down the column of her throat, working his way down.

"Wha-? Bloody hell!"

The loud exclamation broke them apart. Both turned quickly to blink in surprise at the intruder.

Damien was covering both eyes with his hands.

"Oh, my eyes! My eyes!" he yelled dramatically.

"Damy!" Harry growled, "get lost!"

Damien peeked through his fingers before snapping them closed again.

"For Merlin's sake, put your shirts back on!"

Ginny was already scrambling to close her buttons, cursing when two of them were missing.

Harry stayed as he was.

"I told you to get out!" he said.

Damien risked another glance and finally dropped his hands away, seeing Ginny's shirt was buttoned. He glared at Harry.

"You don't own the Astronomy tower!" he pointed out. "I have every right to be here. You two..." he bushed furiously but continued, "should look for somewhere a little more private if you're going to do...all that...stuff." he shook his head. "My brother and one of my best friends. I did _not_ need to see that!"

Ginny was pink faced, not daring to meet Damien's eyes.

"Why are you still here?" Harry asked annoyed.

"I have a prank to set up." Damien replied.

"I have a girlfriend to date." Harry returned.

Damien's lips lifted into a smile, it was the first time Harry had said that out loud and he knew how badly Ginny needed to hear him say it. He glanced over at her and sure enough, she was smiling, even while her face glowed pink with humiliation.

Damien replaced his smile with a frown.

"Well, find some other place. The Astronomy tower is my territory." he stated.

Ginny took Harry's hand and tugged him towards the door, not meeting Damien's smirking eyes the entire time.

xxx

Being back at Hogwarts after the Christmas break, was always such a bittersweet experience for Ginny. She loved her school, but for her, Hogwarts in all it's glory couldn't compete with the Burrow. Her home was after all, her haven, and having to leave it to come back to classes and lessons and exams, was always painful.

This year though, she had found she didn't mind coming back to Hogwarts, and she knew exactly why.

Harry.

He was the reason she had looked forward to being back, so she could see him again. She had felt so terribly guilty at ruining his Christmas. Well, to be fair, it was Charlie who had ruined it, by talking rubbish about him. Ginny pushed thoughts about her older brother out of her mind. She wouldn't think about that jerk and his hurtful words.

"Ginny? Ginny? Ginny!"

Ginny snapped out of her thoughts and turned to look at her brother.

"What?" she hissed.

"Pass the syrup." Ron gestured.

Ginny pushed the bottle towards him, so he could pour it over his pancakes.

"What's with you?" Damien asked her.

"Nothing, I was just...thinking..." she trailed off as the doors opened and she saw Harry walk in.

She watched as her boyfriend made his way towards them, her gaze fixed on his paler than usual face, dark circles under his eyes. He lifted his head and met her eyes, smiling at her.

"Morning." he greeted as he took a seat next to her.

"Hey," she greeted. "Are you okay? You look...tired."

Harry shrugged.

"I'm fine." he replied at once.

"Really, Harry, you look awful." Hermione joined in.

"Jeez, Hermione, you could try sugar coating it." Harry replied.

"Sorry," Hermione blushed, "I meant that you look really drained. Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine, quit asking me." Harry replied, with a note of finality in his voice.

Ginny didn't say anything but her worried gaze flitted from the rest to Harry throughout breakfast.

"Can I have a word?" she whispered to Harry, as they all got up to make their way to class.

Harry followed her out, leaving the others to go to class without him. Ginny led him to the second floor, where both had their classes, but instead led him to the girl's bathroom. Harry walked into the deserted bathroom and smiled.

"Well, well, I wonder what you've got planned, Miss Weasley?"

Ginny tilted her head to smile at him.

"In your dreams, Potter."

Harry chuckled, his eyes gleamed at her.

"Indeed."

Fighting the blush, Ginny moved towards him, her hand coming to rest on his chest.

"I wanted to talk to you, in private." she saw his gaze dart around them and she shook her head. "No one comes in here, it's Moaning Myrtle's bathroom."

"Moaning Myrtle?" Harry frowned. "Who's that?"

"A ghost," Ginny shook her head, "it's...she's not important." she stared him in the eye. "What is important, is you." she saw the surprise as it flitted over his face. "Harry, I know that you're having trouble sleeping."

As she had expected, Harry closed up, the playful glint vanished from his eyes and his expressionless mask drifted into place. She mentally cursed, she hated that damn mask.

"It's not any of your business, Ginny."

"You're my boyfriend. Of course it's my business." she replied. "I can tell, actually I think, everyone can. Your tired eyes say it all."

Harry looked away, his annoyance growing.

"I have class." he turned to leave but Ginny grabbed his hand.

"Harry, please," her hands came to rest on either side of his face. "I'm worried about you." her thumb gently rubbed at the dark circle under his eye. "Please, let me in. Don't shut me out."

Harry's expression softened and he closed his eyes. He placed his hands onto hers and pulled them away from his face, but he held onto them tightly.

"I'm not shutting you out." he said quietly. "It's true I...I've been having...dreams lately...and," he paused, searching for the right word. "It's nothing I can't handle." he finished suddenly. He cupped her face in his hands, "really, Ginny, you don't have to worry."

Before she could say anything, he leaned in and kissed her, cutting her argument before it could begin. Ginny melted into his kiss. A part of her mind told her to stop him, to berate him for distracting her. But the other part of her didn't want this to stop.

His hands were in her hair, his lips pressed against hers, his tongue cheekily invading her mouth. She giggled, before pressing against him, kissing him harder.

The door creaked open before,

"Oh! Merlin!"

Ginny pulled away blinking in surprise.

Parvati and Lavender were standing at the doors, gaping hard at them. Their gaze darted from Harry to Ginny and then back to Harry. Their expressions were as if they had seen the world come to an end.

Ginny couldn't help but smirk. From all the people that had walked in on her and Harry, these two, she didn't mind at all. She looked at Harry to see him glower at them in annoyance. Reluctantly, he let go of her and leaned down to pick up his bag, shouldering it once more.

"Right then, I guess I should get to class." he said. "I'll see you later." he leaned down to kiss her again.

Ginny was sure she heard one of the girls sob.

Harry walked away, passing Parvati and Lavender without a second glance. As soon as he left, the two Gryffindors turned to stare at Ginny.

Ginny moved to one of the mirrors, fixing her hair that Harry had messed up, before running her fingers purposefully over her lips. She lifted her bag and moved towards the door.

"Excuse me." she smiled sweetly at the two girls who had laughed at her a few weeks ago, for saying she was Harry's girlfriend.

Parvati and Lavender quickly scooted to either side, letting Ginny pass. Ginny walked out with her head held high, and a smile that wouldn't leave her for the rest of the day.

xxx

Ginny walked into the room and smiled.

"So, this is the Room of Requirement?" she turned her nose up at it. "It's not got much, has it?"

Harry smirked at her, closing the door.

"It's what I asked for."

Ginny turned to face him.

"This?" she asked. "Harry, there's only a fireplace and a rug."

"It's all we need."

Ginny narrowed her eyes at him.

"What are you planning?"

"Some _alone time_ with my girlfriend that no one will interrupt."

Ginny giggled.

"That sounds nice, but unachievable."

"We'll see." Harry smirked.

He walked over to the fireplace and started the fire. The warm glow spread across the room. Ginny smiled and walked over to it, taking a seat on the surprisingly soft and comfortable rug.

"This is kinda nice." she said, warming her hands.

"Told you." Harry replied. He slid off his robe and tie, leaving only his shirt and trousers.

Ginny followed his example.

"So, what does our _alone time_ consist of?" she asked.

"I had a few ideas." Harry grinned, his eyes flashed at her.

"Like what?" she asked, faking innocence.

"Well," Harry moved closer to her, "To be honest, it's only one main idea."

Ginny shook her head at him.

"Harry Potter, do you have no shame?"

"What's shameful about it?" he asked, "I love you and you love me," he leaned closer, "it's only natural, isn't it?"

Ginny closed her eyes as his lips met hers. She shared the kiss, reaching out to hold him, to have his strong arms wrapped around her.

"Harry," she pulled away, her voice small all of a sudden. "I do love you, you know that, right?"

"Yeah." Harry answered.

"But, I...I want you to understand that...I...I've never been with someone...like...like that." she looked at him straight in the eye. "I want our first time, _my_ first time, to be...special."

Harry reached out and caressed her cheek.

"Don't worry," he reassured, "I won't steal your virtue." he smiled. He leaned forward and kissed her. "I want our first time to be special too and it'll be when you're ready."

Ginny smiled in relief. She was so nervous to speak to him, to tell him she wanted to wait. But Harry had taken all of her worry away. He loved her, so he would wait, until she was ready.

Harry's hands ran down her back, caressing her tenderly. His kisses were soft and gentle, trailing from her mouth to her neck. Soon they were lying on the rug in front of the fireplace, their bodies pressed tightly together on the floor.

"Oh, Gods!"

Ginny closed her eyes, cursing mentally at the sound of the voice. She knew, without having to look up, who it was. She felt Harry shift so he was sitting up.

"Get out, Draco." Harry snapped.

Ginny opened her eyes to see the young Slytherin, standing at the door, staring at them.

"Gladly," he drawled, "I wasn't looking for something to make me throw up anyway."

Harry turned to glare at him.

"You want me to throw _you_ out?"

Draco smirked at him and turned to leave.

"I only came to tell you that the school nurse is looking for you."

"How did you know I was here?" Harry asked.

"Damien's map didn't show you anywhere in Hogwarts, but he told me that means you're in here." his grey eyes shifted to land on Ginny. "The room of requirement." he smirked at Harry. "So you required..."

"Out!"

Harry waved a hand and Draco was sent stumbling back. He flicked his fingers and the door closed, locking Draco outside.

He turned to look at Ginny.

"So much for _alone time_." she muttered.

xxx

The trapdoor in the cellar of Honeydukes slid open. A mop of unruly raven-black hair appeared, followed by green eyes that darted to the darkened corners, seeking out any spying eyes. Satisfied that the cellar was empty, Harry pushed himself up, climbing out of the trap door and onto the floor of the sweet shop. He reached down and helped Ginny out. Both were still clad in school robes but had heavy, fur lined outdoor cloaks to protect against the January chill.

"You ready?" Harry asked, grinning at her.

"Yeah." she whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" Harry asked.

Ginny's eyes widened and she giggled.

"I don't know. I keep thinking there might be someone here."

Harry shook his head at her and pulled her close, his hands slipped around her waist.

"It's past midnight, there's no one here."

Ginny nodded, her eyes gleaming with excitement as well as anxiousness. She was nervous about sneaking out of Hogwarts and it showed in her trembling hands and darting gaze. Harry tightened his hold on her and smiled. A barely audible pop, and Harry apparated to the street outside Honeydukes, Ginny comfortably nestled in his arms.

The street was dark and deserted, only floating lanterns gave a yellowish hue, casting more shadows that light across the cobbled street. Harry took Ginny's hand and both set off, walking leisurely down the street.

"I've never been to Hogsmeade when it's dark." Ginny said, staring at the closed shops and shuttered windows. It was such a strange sight, the usually busy streets of Hogsmeade, deserted and quiet now.

"I prefer it," Harry said, "less people to annoy you."

Ginny laughed.

"You're such an anti-social, stick-in-the-mud."

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah? Like you're a party-all-night-long, rebel!"

Ginny pushed out her chest and raised her chin.

"I could be, if I wanted to."

"Yeah right, Weasley!" Harry laughed.

"Hey, I'm pretty rebellious!" Ginny defended. "I'm out here, in Hogsmeade, in the middle of the night!"

"That's because _I _brought you."

"Yeah, well...I...I can do plenty of other stuff." she tried.

"Like what?" Harry asked.

Ginny paused before suddenly lunging at him, catching him off guard. He hit the wall, the impact winding him slightly. Ginny pressed up against him, her petite frame nothing against Harry's tall build, but he let her pin him against the stone wall.

"You'd be surprised with what I can do, Potter." she told him in a low, seductive voice.

Harry chuckled.

"Yeah?" he breathed, "surprise me."

Ginny smiled and reached up onto her tiptoes to press a kiss onto his lips. Her hands grabbed fistfuls of Harry's cloak, pulling herself up higher to get a better angle. Harry helped her by wrapping a strong arm around her waist and lifting her up. Ginny curled both legs around him, kissing him fervently. Before she knew what was happening, Harry had turned around and pressed her against the wall, giving her better balance so she could move closer and kiss him still deeper.

Time seemed to have stopped for the pair, as they clung to one another, kissing passionately. Ginny had never felt so serene, wrapped in Harry's arms, locked in his kiss, safe from the world...

"Oi! You two! Knock it off!"

A bright light washed over Ginny, blinding her. She squinted, a hand coming up to protect her eyes, as she broke away from the kiss. She felt one of Harry's hands come away, as he too shielded his eyes.

"What the...!" Harry stopped, as the light moved away from their faces, and his eyes adjusted enough to recognise the intruder.

"Harry?" came the surprised gasp.

"Frank?"

Ginny blinked in surprise. She had not expected anyone to turn up in Hogsmeade, in the middle of the night, least of all Frank Longbottom.

"What in the name of heaven are you doing here?" Frank asked.

Harry turned to look at Ginny, who realised at that particular moment that she was still pinned against the wall, with her legs wrapped around Harry's middle, holding onto his collars like they were a lifeline.

She tried to make her landing graceful, but was too shocked and embarrassed to be able to think straight. She uncurled her legs from around Harry and let go of his collars at the same time. She would have landed on the ground in a heap of tangled limbs, if Harry hadn't been holding onto her.

Frank's wand was still lit with his 'lumos' spell, but it was aiming at the ground now. But Ginny still saw the uneasy expression flit across his face. Had their been better light, Ginny was sure she would have seen Auror Longbottom blushing.

"You shouldn't be out of Hogwarts!" he snapped at Harry. "Do you have any idea how dangerous it is?"

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Yeah yeah."

"I'm serious Harry!" Frank said, "you should know better than to risk your safety and Ginny's by sneaking out here! Especially after all this so-called Dark Prince attacks."

Harry's mood changed, the playfulness vanished and he glared at Frank.

"I can handle any idiot, stupid enough to be masquerading as me." he stated, "I'm not afraid of a coward."

"I didn't say you were." Frank softened a little, a tired smile coming to his face. "Look, the Aurors are patrolling the wizarding villages, so do me a favour and get back to Hogwarts. I don't want you getting into anymore trouble."

Harry snorted.

"Harry, let's go!" Ginny whispered, wanting nothing more than to disappear.

Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Alright, come on."

He took her hand and turned to walk away, heading back to Honeydukes, to apparate to the cellar and use the secret tunnel to get back inside Hogwarts.

Ginny was blushing crimson by the time they reached the sweet shop. As soon as they apparated to the cellar, Ginny let out her groan.

"I can't believe it!" she buried her face in both hands, moaning. "That was so embarrassing!"

"Why is it embarrassing?" Harry asked, confused. "We weren't doing anything wrong."

Ginny looked up at him through her fingers.

"I never said it was wrong. But Mr Longbottom saw us, saw me, like _that_, kissing you and, and he knows my dad! What if he says something?"

Harry laughed, shaking his head.

"That's what you're worried about?" he pulled her closer, "don't worry, Frank's not like that. He'll protect your modesty."

"What's left of it," Ginny said, "I don't know if there's anyone that hasn't seen me all over you."

Harry laughed, reaching up to tuck a strand of her red hair behind her ear.

"Let the world see," he whispered, "it doesn't matter."

Ginny smiled, despite herself. She raised herself onto her toes and kissed him again.

xxx

Ginny hated the hospital wing. She hated everything about it. From the white walls to the white bed linen. The smell of antiseptic potions hung heavily in the air, choking her. She didn't know how Harry did it. How did he manage to stay here? But she knew that Harry hated it here just as much as she did. He just didn't have a choice but to stay in the hospital wing.

She lightly touched the back of his hand, as he sat up in bed, waiting for the school nurse to finish her examination. He turned to look at her, his tired, bloodshot eyes softened a fraction but he didn't speak.

Poppy finally pulled away.

"Back to normal," she sighed in relief, reading Harry's blood test results. She smiled at Harry. "Your fever's gone but you'll probably still feel a little tired and sore. It's been a tough two days."

"You're telling me?" Harry asked incredulously.

Poppy didn't reply, but gave him an abashed smile.

"Stay here, I have some paperwork that needs to be completed, before I can discharge you."

"Whatever." Harry hissed and looked away from the nurse.

Ginny exchanged an awkward glance with Poppy before the school nurse turned and walked away, back into her office.

"What was that?" Ginny asked, the moment the office door closed. "Why are you so annoyed at Madame Pomfrey?"

Harry leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

"She thinks I did it." he answered.

"Did what?"

"Take the sleeping potion." Harry opened his eyes and looked at Ginny. "For the last few days, all I've heard from her, is horror stories of what will happen to me if I keep on taking the potion." he closed his eyes, his hands clenched into fists. "No matter how many times I've said I didn't _fucking_ take any! She doesn't believe me!"

"She found traces of it in your blood, Harry." Ginny reminded.

"I know that!" he snapped, "I know she found traces, I just don't know why!" he stopped, seeing the startled expression on Ginny's face. He knew yelling at her wasn't going to help. He took in a breath and slumped against the bed. "I _swear_, I didn't take any on purpose."

"I never said you did."

Harry looked over at her, immensely grateful that at least she believed him.

"I feel like I'm losing my mind," he admitted in a quiet voice. "I know that I didn't take the sleeping potion, but...but I must have, since I got sick with it." he closed his eyes, reaching up to rub at them with both hands. "I can't believe I'm doing things that I can't remember."

Ginny couldn't bear to see Harry so dejected. He had always been strong. Last year, when the whole of the wizarding world was out looking for his blood, Harry had continued to hunt down Voldemort's horcruxes and even went boldly to the Ministry to help Bella. Harry wasn't one to give in easily and he never stopped fighting. That was what she loved the most about him. Seeing him fall to pieces was breaking her heart.

She got up from her seat and moved closer to Harry, sitting on his bed, facing him.

"Talk to me, Harry," she urged, "tell me what it is that's stopping you from sleeping. Maybe once you've got it all out of your system, you'll finally be at peace and you can sleep."

Harry shook his head.

"It's not like that, Gin," he started. "It's...complicated."

"It doesn't have to be." she replied, "just...talk to me, please. Get it out of your system." she paused, wondering if she should just go ahead and say it. Everyone knew _why_ Harry wasn't sleeping. The subject of his nightmares wasn't difficult to work out. She took a deep breath. "What is it that...V-Voldemort..."

"Don't, Ginny, just...just don't."

Ginny stopped and stared at Harry.

"Your sleep deprivation is killing you!" she said. "It's got to the point that you're subconsciously taking sleeping potion, that is now effectively poison for you! Yet you _still_ won't talk to anyone!"

"No, I won't!" Harry answered, annoyed. "because this crap is for me to handle. It's my shit and I'll deal with it!"

"You're not dealing with it, Harry! You're hiding from it!"

"I'll do what I want with it!"

"Fine!" Ginny stood up, "you do what you want, but I won't stand back and watch you slowly kill yourself!"

She turned around to leave, hurrying to the doors.

"Ginny! Ginny, don't go!"

She ignored his calls, forcing back the stinging tears. She wouldn't cry in front of him, not when she was trying to make a point.

"Ginny, please."

She stopped, her hand on the door. She couldn't walk away from him, not now. She turned to see him push the covers away and painfully get out of bed. The first tear spilled down her cheek.

"I can't bear to see you like this," she told him with all her sincerity. "You need help, Harry. How long are you going to deny that?"

Harry stared at her.

"I only need you."

Ginny's heart leapt in her chest. She walked back to him, hugging him tightly.

"I'll always be with you." she told him. "Even when I'm angry, I'm still with you." She pulled away, smiling through her tears. "I'm your friend, Harry. Talk to me, please."

"I can't," Harry explained, "everything's messed up, I don't even know myself what is wrong, why I keep seeing him..." he shut his eyes, shaking his head. "I just, I need to work this out myself but I need you by my side. I can't have you turn against me too."

Ginny reached up, silencing him with a kiss. She pulled away to look at him.

"Never, Harry," she promised, "I'll never be against you."

Harry leaned down this time and kissed her, his hands reached into her hair, cradling her head as he kissed her.

"Hem hem!"

The kiss broke and Ginny turned around, to see James Potter standing at the doors. He looked surprised and a little disturbed. Seeing his son kissing the daughter of his friend couldn't be an easy sight. He didn't meet Ginny's eyes but instead focused past her head.

"Miss Weasley, you should return to the common room, it's almost nine."

Ginny pulled herself reluctantly out of Harry's arms. She tucked her hair behind her ears.

"Yes, Professor."

Feeling like she was drowning in deja vu, Ginny walked away from Harry, the taste of his sweet kiss still on her lips. She walked past the professor, hurrying out the doors, feeling her ears and cheeks burn with embarrassment.

xxx

The music was so loud, it was hurting her ears, but Ginny didn't care. She swayed in Harry's arms, her feet moving in time with the beat and her body pressed up against Harry's. The flashing lights made blue and red hues dance across the floor, shining down on her exposed arms. She giggled at the sight.

She had never been to a nightclub before and certainly not one like this. She cast another glance at all the muggles, dancing right next to her, having no idea that there was a witch and a wizard amongst them.

"You okay?" Harry had to yell into her ear. "You look distracted!"

"It's nothing!" she yelled back. "Just in awe of this place!"

Harry smiled, pulling her closer, trailing his hands down her back as he moved to the music. Ginny relished the feeling of his touch. She had missed him so badly these last few months. His anger over her hiding the truth about the Sedare potion had caused her such heartache. Harry had refused to even look at her. He used to walk away and ignore her, as well as Damien and Ron and Hermione. It was the worst thing in the world to Ginny, to have a life without Harry in it.

But so much had happened since then. She had almost died at the hands of the Dark Prince impostor, Hogwarts had to close early and now, there was this constant search for the man trying to get to Harry. Ginny felt her stomach suddenly clench with fear. She wanted to stop thinking about him, but the memory of the cruel man, grabbing her by the hair and lifting her up to throw off the Astronomy tower came at her with full force.

'_Because it would destroy him!_'

His voice still echoed in her head, his words cut right into her.

"Ginny?"

Ginny looked up into concerned green eyes. She forced a smile and shook her head, signalling that she was okay. But that wasn't going to work on Harry. Ever since they had got back together, which was only a few days ago, Harry was more attentive towards her. She knew it was because he missed her too, he just didn't want to admit it.

Sure enough, Harry had grabbed onto her hand and was leading her away from the dance floor, heading to a quiet corner, just to the back of the club.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing, I'm fine." Ginny insisted.

"You don't look fine." he said.

"Oh, jeez, thanks!" Ginny playfully slapped him.

"No, I mean, you look, wow!" he looked her from top to bottom and grinned, a flash in his eyes that made Ginny's face burn. "I meant you looked worried about something."

"I was just thinking about Ron, stuck at Potter manor, studying the files."

Harry frowned.

"Why would that be worrying?" he asked.

"Ron studying without Hermione's supervision?" Ginny raised an eyebrow, "shouldn't you be worried?"

Harry's expression relaxed and he smiled.

"When you put it like that."

Ginny grinned and put both arms around him, her fingers toying with the hair at the nape of his neck.

"But you know what? Tonight is our night." she gazed into his eyes, "let's leave the worrying and the studying until tomorrow, yeah?"

Harry didn't say anything, which worried Ginny. It had taken her and Damien almost an entire day to convince Harry to take a break from studying the Ministry files and go out to have some fun. Harry had only agreed when James had suggested that he and the rest would look through the files and make notes for him to look through the next morning, if he went out and took a break from it all. Even Draco had offered to come by Potter manor and help. That was when Harry had finally agreed to one night off. He had brought Ginny to the club he used to often visit as Alex and up until now, they had been having a great time, but now she had reminded him. She was certain Harry was going to cancel the rest of the night out and apparate home right now.

To her immense relief, Harry smiled and nodded. They went back to the dance floor, just in time for the start of another song. Ginny laughed as Harry took her hand and danced, twirling her around. With her back pressed against his front, Harry reached over to grab her by the hips, slowly guiding them to move the same time as him, manipulating her body so they both danced the same steps together. She was laughing heartily, trying to keep up with him. His fingers tightened and spun her around to face him. He was smiling at her.

"I love you."

Ginny was startled. He had said the words to her many times, but it was always in private, never in such in a public place.

"I love you too." she answered.

Harry leaned down and captured her lips in a kiss. Ginny returned it, just as passionately. She didn't care if people were watching, all she cared about was Harry's lips on hers.

"Ginny!"

She and Harry both turned to look in the direction of the yell. Ginny's eyes widened.

"Ron!"

Her brother was standing right in front of her, staring at her in horror. Next to him, was a bemused looking Hermione.

"What? What are you doing here?" Ginny asked the pair.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Ron asked. "You're supposed to be at Potter Manor, studying!"

"That's where you should be!" Ginny yelled back at him.

"We're on a date." Harry explained.

"So are we." Hermione told him with a faint blush.

"I can't believe, out of all the places in the world, you have to come here!" Ron said.

"Hold up," Harry raised a hand, "I knew about this place before you did."

"Actually, my uncle owns this nightclub." Hermione said.

"Really? Jason is your uncle?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Yes, he..."

"Can we do this another time?" Ron interrupted angrily. He turned back to Ginny. "Does mum know you're here?"

"Yes, she does!" Ginny replied.

Ron's face was slowly turning red.

"Well, I don't think dad would want you here!"

"Why?" Harry asked, "what's wrong with here?"

"Yes, Ronald, what is wrong with here?" Hermione asked dangerously.

Ron looked between Hermione and Ginny.

"Oh, come on!" he exclaimed. "If she stays here, she'll do more of...of...you know what with Harry!"

"Oh, for heavens sake!" Ginny cried, "I'm with my boyfriend, on a date! What did you _think_ we would do? What do you reckon we do every time we're on a date?"

Ron looked disgusted.

"I don't think anything!" he defended. "It's not like I imagine my sister with my mate!" he grimaced, like he had swallowed something rather nasty and slimy. He turned to look at Harry, "you, just...just keep your hands off my sister, at least until I'm around."

Harry smirked.

"Got it, no hands." he held up both hands in the air. He turned to Ginny and leaned forward. Ginny eagerly kissed him, smiling at the sound of Ron's revolted yell.

"Potter! Stop it!"

Harry turned to smirk at him.

"You said no hands, you didn't say anything about the lips."

Ron looked fit to burst, he pointed a finger at Harry but couldn't bring himself to threaten him. What do you say to the once Dark Prince to scare him?

He did the only thing he could, he turned, grabbed Hermione's hand and hurried away, heading for the doors.

Ginny smiled and turned around to put both arms around Harry's neck.

"Think you can apparate me home?" she asked.

Harry frowned.

"Sure, but don't you want to stay?"

"I do," Ginny sighed, "but I should go home."

"Why?"

"Because my mum actually doesn't know where I am."

Harry leaned over to kiss the top of her head.

"Of course she doesn't." he grinned.

xxx

Ginny snapped the book closed, with a sigh. She couldn't concentrate on anything, not even re-reading her favourite book could distract her. Her mind kept going back to yesterday and how lost and upset Harry looked, sitting at the graves of Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange. She wanted to see him, to make sure he was okay, but every time she floo called Potter manor, Damien or James Potter told her Harry wasn't home.

Where could he be? She had already apparated to Cornwall to see if he was visiting the graves again, but he wasn't there. Damien had no idea where he was but he told her not to worry. Harry was like that, he probably went out to clear his head, to get some fresh air. But Ginny did worry, because she knew he was hurting.

She got up from her chair, taking to pacing her bedroom. She gave up after a full minute. It didn't calm her, not at all. She didn't know why Harry did it so often.

Letting out a deep noise of frustration she fell onto her bed. She closed her eyes, willing herself to just relax and calm down. To maybe sleep for a bit, that way time would pass and she could floo call Potter manor again, without making herself out to be Harry's stalker.

She grunted in amusement. Harry's stalker? She wouldn't mind that, at least she would know where he was.

She sat up in bed, restless and annoyed. A noise distracted her suddenly. She looked to her bedroom window. She watched carefully for long moments, then she caught it. The sight of a small pebble hitting against her window pane. She got up quickly, running to her window to open it. She looked out of her window and frowned. There was no one there.

"Looking for someone?"

Ginny almost jumped out of her skin.

She turned around to find Harry standing behind her, grinning at her.

"You idiot!" she slapped a hand across his chest. "You scared me."

"That was kinda the point." he defended.

"Were you outside, throwing stones at my window?" she asked.

"Yes." Harry replied.

"And then you apparated straight into my bedroom?"

"Yep."

Ginny put her hands on her hips.

"What if I had someone with me in my room?"

Harry cocked up an eyebrow.

"Who else would be in your bedroom?" he asked.

Ginny looked annoyed.

"I meant my family!" she explained. "My mother or my brothers. Not what you're thinking." she smirked at him, "we only mess around at _his_ place."

Harry's eyes widened initially before he realised she was joking. They narrowed at her.

"You're going to pay for that." he growled.

"I hope so." she grinned.

Harry playfully grabbed her, throwing her over his shoulder, making her squeal.

"Harry! Put me down! Put me down!"

"As you wish."

He dropped her onto the bed, making her bounce upwards.

"Jerk!" she pouted.

He only grinned back before taking off his jacket. He casually threw it onto the chair before climbing on top of her.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ginny asked, amused with how comfortable he was making himself in her bed.

"I'm making out with my girlfriend. Do you have a problem?"

Ginny pushed him to sit up.

"Yes I have a problem." she pointed at her door. "My entire family is downstairs."

Harry shot her a mischievous smile.

"Don't you think it makes it more...exciting." he moved towards her, wrapping a hand around her waist and leaning down to kiss the spot in the crook of her neck, the one he knew made Ginny weak in the knees.

As he expected, Ginny let out a low moan.

"Harry...d-don't."

Harry lifted his head.

"Okay, if you don't want to."

He moved away but didn't get very far. Ginny had grabbed him before crushing her lips onto his. Her enthusiasm had pushed Harry, so he was lying on his back with Ginny on top of him. She kissed him deeply before pulling back to stare at him.

"You do this on purpose don't you?" she accused.

"Can you blame me?" Harry chuckled. "I just love it when you try to jump my bones."

Ginny giggled.

"You're sick, you know that?"

Harry in response raised his head up and kissed her. His peripheral vision just caught the door opening, but he was too late to pull away.

"Ginny, honey, have you seen the...?" Arthur Weasley stopped dead, staring at Ginny and Harry.

Ginny paled, still sprawled over Harry's front, on top of her bed, while her father was standing there staring at them in shock.

"What...?" Arthur started.

That was all it took. Harry looked from Arthur to Ginny and in a flash, he was gone. He had disapparated on the spot. Ginny fell face first onto the mattress, spluttering obscenities under her breath at her boyfriend.

"Ginevra! What is this?" Arthur cried in anger.

Ginny picked herself up off her bed and stood up, fixing her clothes.

"Um, well, it isn't a dream, like I was hoping it would be."

She realised a moment later what that sounded like and she blushed crimson red, spluttering quickly that it all came out wrong.

"Downstairs! Now! We need to talk!" Arthur was almost as red in the face as his hair. He turned and shouting for Molly, he left the room.

Ginny groaned, hiding her face behind her hands. A loud pop behind her told her someone had apparated again. She turned around to see a bashful Harry.

"Sorry, I panicked."

"Panicked?" Ginny hit him on the arm, hard. "You left me alone to face the heat, you jerk!"

"I was caught off guard." Harry replied.

"So? Since when have you been one to run away when caught?"

"I didn't know what to do." he defended. "It was so embarrassing, caught by your dad."

Ginny's eyes bulged out at him.

"What about me?" she asked. "I've been caught by your dad, your mum, your brother, your godfather and your friend! But at that time you said it wasn't embarrassing!"

"That was different." Harry defended.

"Why?"

"Because this time it's _your_ dad."

Ginny glared at him.

"Hypocrite!"

Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Okay, we'll...we'll face this together. Okay?"

Ginny relaxed a little.

"Okay, mum and dad are waiting downstairs."

Harry nodded and moved towards the door. He paused and turned back to her.

"Question, if your dad chases me with a meat cleaver, I can disapparate then, right?"

"Not even then." Ginny replied.

xxx

Harry smiled brightly at the sight of his red haired girlfriend. The moment she set foot in Potter manor, he had whisked her upstairs and into his bedroom.

"Missed me?" Ginny asked.

"Like crazy." he replied. "Don't go visiting family again."

"Harry, I was away a weekend." she grinned.

"So?" Harry asked.

Ginny chuckled, taking a seat on his bed.

"So, what's been happening while I was away."

"Not much," Harry replied. "Dumbledore came to see me, offered me a job."

Ginny's eyes widened.

"Really?" she asked, "what job? A teaching post?"

Harry nodded.

"It's a new post, something about teaching how to duel effectively."

Ginny beamed.

"That's perfect for you! You'll be a brilliant teacher! Well, you'll have to keep your temper in check..."

"I turned it down."

Ginny stopped mid speech, staring at him.

"You did what?"

"I said no." Harry replied.

"But, why?" Ginny asked.

"I don't want to work for Dumbledore."

"But, Harry..."

"I don't want to be anywhere near Dumbledore again."

Ginny stopped, knowing how much mistrust Harry had of Professor Dumbledore. She wasn't going to argue with him.

"It's your decision." she nodded. "But you know, if you had taken it, we would have been together at Hogwarts again."

Harry smiled, coming to sit next to her.

"I don't need to be a teacher or a student to come to Hogwarts." he leaned forward to kiss her. "I can come to see my girlfriend whenever I want."

"That's not allowed." Ginny said.

Harry smiled.

"I'd like to see who can stop me."

He kissed her again, pushing her to lie flat on the bed. Ginny happily complied, pulling him closer, her hands brushing through his hair. Harry moved to the column of her throat, trailing little kisses along her skin before working his way back up again to her lips, nibbling playfully on her bottom lip.

The door to his room was suddenly banged open with great enthusiasm, startling the two teens.

"Lex! Lex!"

Nigel came bouncing into the room, coming to stop next to the bed, staring at Harry who was still on top of Ginny.

Ginny groaned and flopped her head back onto the mattress.

"I give up!" she muttered.

"Lex? Gin? What you doin?" the three year old asked.

Harry looked at Ginny, utterly confused as to what he should say.

"Erm, I'm...I'm looking for my...my sweets which Gin here has taken." he said.

Nigel blinked up at him.

"Nigel, why don't you go outside and I'll look for my sweets in Gin's mouth." Harry continued.

"Harry!" Ginny pushed him, frowning at him.

"Oh, alright!" Harry got up and so did Ginny.

"Are you tired?" Nigel asked Harry, still wondering why he had been lying down.

"Yes, I'm tired," Harry replied, throwing Ginny a longing glance. "So tired."

Ginny elbowed him in the side.

"Lex go for nap nap?" Nigel asked.

Harry grinned.

"No, not right now. Now, Lex is going to chase a very troublesome little monster."

Nigel's eyes widened.

"Monster? Where?" he asked.

"Right here!" Harry lunged at Nigel, leaping from the bed. He grabbed the three year old around the middle and hauled him up into the air.

Nigel screamed in delight and laughed.

"No Lex! I'm no monster!" he protested in between giggles.

"I'll protect you Nigel!" Ginny joined in and grabbed Harry, tickling him until he lowered Nigel onto the ground and let go. "Run, Nigel!" she cried.

Nigel screamed with excitement and ran out the door.

Harry straightened up.

"Finally!" he leaned in towards her but Ginny stopped him.

"We have a three year old, ready to play chases." she reminded.

"He's a kid, what does he know?"

"Harry." she warned.

"Lex?" came Nigel's expectant cry from downstairs.

Harry gave in.

"Alright!" he grinned at Ginny, "Where's that little monster!" he yelled loudly and Nigel's little laughter rang through the house.

Ginny watched as Harry ran from his room, taking two steps at a time to get to Nigel, who was hiding behind the coat stand. She smiled as Nigel giggled and ran from Harry, telling him to wait so he could hide. She walked downstairs to see Frank and Alice Longbottom with Lily and James, watching Harry and Nigel chase each other around the hall. She let out a sigh of relief.

At least it was Nigel and not Alice that had walked in on her and Harry.

xxx

So, which one did you like the most? Let me know :)


	6. A Magical Midnight Rendezvous

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

_Alessiabass_' request - _ Harry comes to visit Ginny in Hogwarts - Harry watches Ginny sleep._

Dedicated to Alessiabass.

A special shout out to Gii3-DaydreamOfABeliever. This one was completed earlier than planned, just for you. :)

Enjoy!

**A Magical Midnight Rendezvous**

The castle was draped in darkness. Every living thing in Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was sleeping. In one of the tall towers, Ginny Weasley lay fast asleep. She and her three dorm mates were so deep in slumber, none of them awoke when one of the windows began to slowly slide open. The cold night air fluttered into the room, making the four girls snuggle deeper into their covers, still fast asleep.

A young man, soundlessly entered the room from the open window. He stood still for a moment, emerald eyes scanned the room. Satisfied that his crawl through the window hadn't awakened any residents of the room, Harry reached back and wandlessly slid the window shut. He moved to the bed closest to him. His hand came up and he whispered a single word.

"Silencio."

With the spell in place, Harry cast a last look around the room, before he parted the bed drapes and stepped past them. He smiled, as he gazed at his red haired girlfriend, sleeping so soundly, it were as if nothing in the world could wake her. Moonlight shone through the tiny gaps in the drapes, giving Harry enough light to study her. He lowered himself to sit next to her. The bed dipped and Ginny stirred. Harry froze, holding his breath. His eyes stayed on Ginny, but she simply snuggled deep into her duvet and continued sleeping, snoring softly. Harry let out his breath and chuckled silently, at his own foolishness.

He had come to the Gryffindor tower, to Ginny's dormitory, with the intention of waking her up. But the sight of her lying like that, on her side, red hair fanned around her like some sort of fiery halo, one hand resting next to her head, the other clutched around her duvet, the look of complete and utter peace on her features; it was a picture of perfection and Harry just wanted to gaze at it for a little while longer.

He was surprised at how different she seemed when asleep. Her features were relaxed, calm. Her big brown expressive eyes, that Harry loved so damn much, were hidden behind closed eyelids, so Harry's attention went to the small details he usually missed. He hadn't ever noticed how many freckles she had, doted around her nose, a few specks on her cheeks. There was a tiny, pinprick of a beauty spot, just at the curve of her mouth, that made Harry want to lean over and kiss it right there and then.

Before he could do anything though, Ginny shifted, stretching out a little before digging herself deeper into the pillow, letting out a deep breath as she slept. Harry smiled and reached out, gently pushing away the strands of hair from the side of her face. His hand ghosted over her cheek, trailing down to her neck.

Ginny stirred again but this time, her eyes fluttered open. She looked straight at Harry, smiled dreamily at him and closed her eyes again. They flew open a second later, wide with panic and she scrambled to sit up, her covers thrown up in her hurry.

"Harry?" she cried.

"Hey Ginny." he replied calmly.

"What...?" Ginny stared at him with narrowed eyes, sleep still lingering in them, her hair messy and dishevelled, hung around her. "What are you doing here?" she dropped her voice suddenly, flinching, her eyes darted to the side of her bed.

"It's okay," Harry grinned, "silencio; they can't hear a thing."

Ginny sat up on her knees, her brow knitted and eyes narrowed.

"What were you thinking?" she asked, her voice still dropped to a whisper, regardless of the silencing spell, "what if someone saw you? or heard you apparate?"

"I didn't apparate, the sound would have woken your friends up for sure."

She suddenly looked suspicious. "How did you get in here? Boys can't come into girl's dormitories."

"Correction; boys can't come into girl's dormitories using the staircase." he shrugged, "so I didn't use the stairs."

Ginny looked confused for a moment, then caught on.

"You _flew_ up here?" she asked. At Harry's grin, she leaned over and smacked him across the arm. "You idiot! You flew all the way here and came through the window? What if you fell?"

"You do know me? Harry Potter? A natural flier?" Harry teased.

"Natural flier, my ass!" Ginny grumbled, "you could have hurt yourself, genius!"

"I wanted to see you." Harry replied, like it was the simplest thing in the world.

Ginny stopped, suddenly worried.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"I couldn't sleep." Harry replied.

"Why?" Ginny asked anxiously.

She had mentally mapped out the days, Harry shouldn't be having a withdrawal, that wasn't due for another two weeks.

"No, nothing like that," Harry assured, having read the worry from her eyes, "I was just...restless, I guess."

"Restless?" Ginny asked.

"To see you," Harry explained, "and since you're busy all day in classes and blow off our dates in the evenings, I had no choice but to come in the dead of the night to see you."

Ginny shifted to sit cross legged, smiling at her boyfriend.

"I need to study, Harry."

"I know." he replied sulkily.

"And you have plenty to keep you busy too." she added, "now that you're going to be teaching Effective Duelling, you've got to start planning lessons..."

"Gin, I don't even have my classroom built yet, the lesson planning can wait." Harry interrupted.

"Everything will be ready before you know it," Ginny replied, "and next term, the whole of Hogwarts will be coming to your door, to learn ED, you should start planning from now."

Harry gave her a look, his features pulled up into a scowl.

"Are you channelling Hermione? Stop it, it's freaking me out."

Ginny smiled and scooted closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I'm sorry I ruined your plans," she said, "but N. E. W. T. S are coming up and if I don't study..."

"I offered to help you study." Harry interrupted.

Ginny gave him a look.

"Yeah, I know _exactly_ what _your_ version of studying is."

A grin spread slowly across his lips.

"You can't say you don't enjoy it."

Ginny shook her head, giggling.

"I do enjoy it," she replied, "problem is, I enjoy it a little too much. By the end of the night, all I can think about is you and absolutely _nothing_ of what I'm supposed to be learning."

Harry leaned in, his hand reached up into her hair and pulled her closer so they could kiss. A long, slow kiss later, he pulled away, smiling.

"I swear, I'll make it really interesting."

Ginny grinned and leaned over to kiss him again.

"Sorry, Harry, but I need to pass and unfortunately, the exams aren't on what it's like to kiss you."

Harry sighed and pulled away.

"Fine," he said, leaning against the headboard, stretched out, both hands tucked behind his head, "but if I can't have you during the day or evening, I'll just have to settle for the night."

Ginny's eyebrows shot up and she spluttered a little.

"Excuse me?"

Harry smirked.

"No, not that," he shook his head, "honestly, Miss Weasley, mind's always in the gutter."

"Look whose talking!" Ginny returned.

Harry grinned and sat up.

"Let's go out." he suggested.

"Out?" Ginny asked, "now? It's like, what? three in the morning."

"So?"

"Where are we going to go at three in the morning?"

"What does it matter?" Harry asked, "I've got plenty of places to show you." he tugged at her hand, "come on, Gin."

"Alright, alright," she laughed, "how about I get changed first?"

Harry shrugged and lay back, resuming his earlier position, hands tucked behind his head, leaning against the headboard.

"Okay."

Ginny waited for a moment before raising an eyebrow.

"You _honestly_ think I'm going to let you watch me undress?"

"If you love me, you will."

"I do love you," Ginny smiled, "but not that much," she pointed a finger at the bed drapes, "out!"

Harry pretended to sulk but he scooted off the bed.

"It was worth a shot," he breathed. He stood up and turned to give her another all-over glance, "by the way, cute jammies." he grinned.

Ginny blushed, casting a quick glance over her pink cupcakes and cookies pyjamas.

"Shut it, they're comfortable." she quipped back.

Harry grinned and winked at her, before disappearing behind the drapes.

xxx

Ginny peeked her head through the drapes barely three minutes later. She crept out, fully dressed in faded blue jeans, trainers, a baby blue top, and her cloak draped around her shoulders. She saw Harry waiting by the window. She pushed her messy strands behind her ear, cursing herself for not keeping her brush next to her bed. She would have to remember to do that from now on, especially if Harry was planning more midnight rendezvous'.

"Come on." Harry whispered, before sliding the window open.

Ginny cast a wary glance at her three dorm mates, but the girls were fast asleep, completely unaware of their night time visitor.

Harry climbed out the window, much to Ginny's growing alarm. She hurried behind him to see his infamous broom, just hovering next to the window, apparently awaiting its rider. Effortlessly, Harry jumped from the window and onto the broom. Ginny found herself smiling. She quickly replaced it with, what she hoped looked like, a stern frown. Really, she shouldn't encourage him.

Harry drew closer to her and held out a hand.

Ginny crawled through the open window and completely ignored Harry's helping hand. She took aim and jumped, landing behind him. She grinned at her success and wrapped both hands around Harry's torso.

"Gryffindor's Chaser," she whispered into his ear, "knows her way around a broom."

Harry moved his head to the side, grinning, and whispered back.

"That's my girl."

Ginny blushed and dipped her head, resting her cheek against his back.

Harry wandlessly lowered the open window so it shut again before pulling away and flying, past the towers of the castle, heading in the opposite direction to Hogsmeade.

"Where are you taking me then?" Ginny asked resting her chin on his shoulder.

Harry laughed.

"You'll just have to wait and see."

"Can't you give me a clue?" she asked.

"You worried?" Harry asked, unable to twist back to look at her.

"Of course not." she replied.

"How far you willing to go with me?" Harry asked.

Ginny tightened her grip around his torso.

"With you, to the end of the world." she replied.

Harry didn't say anything, but Ginny could tell he was smiling.

xxx

It was a little before seven in the morning, before Harry and Ginny arrived back at the window of the Gryffindor tower. This time, only Ginny crawled through the window and into her dorm room. Her dorm mates were still asleep, everything just as she had left it. Ginny turned back and leaned out of the window, her eyes gleamed in happiness at the boy hovering on the broom outside.

"Thanks," she whispered. "I had an amazing night."

"Told you it was going to be fun." Harry replied.

Ginny giggled.

"Yeah, you did."

She fell quiet and just gazed at Harry. He flew a little closer so he was pressed up against the outer stone wall of the tower, just below her window. Ginny leaned down lower and Harry pushed himself up so their lips could meet.

"I'll see you soon, _Professor_." Ginny whispered, as soon as she pulled out of the kiss.

Harry grinned back. She was the only one who could get away with teasing him with that word.

"You better." he returned.

Ginny pulled back and watched as Harry turned and flew away, speeding away from Hogwarts, heading back to Potter manor. She pulled herself away from the window and quietly closed it again. She quickly got changed back into her pyjamas, so no one grew suspicious of her outside clothes. She had just pulled the drapes to her bed open and sat down on her bed, when one of her friends sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Morning!" she yawned.

"Morning." Ginny returned.

The girl looked up at Ginny and frowned.

"You okay?" she asked, "you look like you had a rough night."

Ginny smiled, biting her bottom lip as a blush tinged her cheeks pink.

"Don't ask." she grinned.

xxx


	7. A Comforting Touch

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Alessiabass' request - _Ginny holds Harry during one of his withdrawals._

Dedicated to Alessiabass. Hope you like it. Enjoy!

**A Comforting Touch**

"Damien! Hurry up! We're going to be late!" Lily called from the hallway.

"Just a minute!" came the reply from upstairs.

Lily only shook her head and went back to the living room. She picked up the shiny wrapped up parcel and adjusted the ribbon, smiling in approval.

"Admiring your handiwork again?"

Lily turned to her husband with a smile.

"How can I not?" she teased.

"You do know, Alice isn't going to care how perfectly-symmetrically-tied the ribbon is?" James asked, "all she wants is the shoes inside."

"How is it after being married for twenty years, you still know _nothing_ about women?" Lily asked, "it's _all_ about the presentation."

James only chuckled and took his wife in his arms.

"I know some things about women." he muttered in her ear.

"_Women?_"

"Woman, woman, singular." James corrected.

Lily pretended to glare at him but she couldn't keep up the act and soon melted in his embrace, giggling as he kissed along her neck, nibbling at her ear.

A faint pop sounded behind James.

"Urgh!"

James and Lily broke apart and turned to see a very disgruntled Harry, frowning at them.

"Please, I already feel sick, you don't have to add to it." he said, dropping his bag down next to the sofa.

"What are you doing?" Lily demanded, stepping out of James' arms and hurrying towards her eighteen year old son.

"I don't know, what am I supposed to be doing?" Harry asked, a harsh bite to his tone.

Lily narrowed her eyes at him.

"You were _supposed_ to pick up your new dress robes for Alice's party today," she reminded, "I figured that's where you were."

Harry's expression morphed into one of surprise.

"That's today?" he asked, running a hand through his hair, "I forgot all about it."

"Oh, Harry!" Lily whined, "I thought you were ready for the party. I was expecting to see you at Alice's."

"It slipped my mind." Harry said.

"I reminded you this morning." Lily said.

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair again.

"I don't know what's wrong," he admitted, "my head's been all over the place today."

"You feeling okay?" James asked, coming at once to Harry's side, "you're not coming down with something, are you?" he asked, "can't be another withdrawal, the last one was only a fortnight ago."

"No, no, nothing like that," Harry waved a hand irritably to keep James from fussing over him, "it's just this preparation at Hogwarts, it's stressing me out. One bloody problem after another."

James glanced down at Harry's bag, stuffed full of building plans and blueprints.

"Had another meeting with the builder?"

Harry nodded.

"Incompetent prats." he muttered.

"Alright," Lily cut in, "you can badmouth builders all you want, but _after_ you get dressed for the party."

Harry sighed.

"Do I have to go?"

"Harry, it's Alice," Lily stressed, "she'll be upset if you don't attend her 40th birthday party."

Harry gave a dejected nod and turned to the door.

"Fine. I'll just take a quick shower and get ready then."

"You have to hurry up, we're running late." Lily said.

"You guys leave. I'll catch up with you." Harry replied.

"What are you going to wear?" James asked, "your robes are still at the shop."

"I've got plenty of formal robes." Harry called behind him, "I'm sure Alice won't mind if I don't wear brand new ones."

Lily pulled a face.

"I mind!"

"I don't care." Harry called back.

xxx

Harry pulled on his royal blue robes over his smart white shirt and buttoned it up. He shook his damp hair out of his eyes, glancing at his reflection in the mirror. He looked somewhat presentable. Grabbing his shoes, he made to sit down on the edge of his bed when the whole room suddenly tilted. Harry threw out his hands, catching the footboard. It was the only thing that stopped him hitting the floor face first. He guided himself to kneel on the floor, closing his eyes as a wave of dizziness swept through him. His stomach lurched horribly at the sensation.

Breathing heavily, he sat on the floor and waited for the dizzy spell to end. There wasn't much else he could do. As soon as the room stopped spinning, Harry stumbled to his feet and managed to guide himself onto the edge of the bed.

Shivers ran down his spine and a slow ache started in the spot between his eyes. The beginning of a headache, a sensation Harry knew all too well. He suddenly felt too warm. He pulled at his robes, stripping them off and opened the top button of his shirt. That's when the coppery scent flooded his senses and Harry realised what was going on. He grabbed his robes, holding them to his nose as it started to bleed. His gaze darted to the small calender pinned to his wall. His last withdrawal was two weeks ago. He only got a withdrawal once a month. What was going on?

xxx

Alice Longbottom's 40th birthday bash was a very busy party, with all of Frank and Alice's friends and family in attendance. Frank was methodically meeting and greeting all the guests, ensuring they all got a drink from the fountain of wine and got enough to eat at the buffet. It took him almost twenty minutes before he came across the Potters.

"James! Lily!" he shook hands with both, leaning in to kiss Lily on the cheek, "Damien, how are you?" he shook hands with the fifteen year old.

"Fine, Mr Longbottom." Damien replied.

"Wow, Frank, this is quite the party." Lily admired the fancy banqueting hall.

"Thanks, but it's all Alice," Frank replied, "she planned everything. I only paid the bill." he chuckled.

"It's what we're good for." James winked.

"We'll see what you're good for," Lily teased, "my big 4-0 is next year."

"No, it can't be," James flirted, "you don't look a day over 21."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Where's Harry?" Frank asked.

"He's just on his way, he's running a little late." Lily apologised.

"Good, good," Frank muttered, "haven't seen him in so long. It'll be good to catch up."

"He's a little stressed today," James warned, "not everything's going to plan with his Hogwarts building."

"Really? That's a shame," Frank said, "sounds like he could do with a night off." he raised his glass with a wink.

James laughed. A night off was exactly what Harry needed.

xxx

Ginny stepped out of the green flames, shaking the last traces of soot from her fancy robes. She muttered a few choice words under her breath. Here she was, dressed to the nines and Harry had stood her up. _Again._

But this time Ginny had decided she wasn't going to put up with it. She had joined the rest of her family and left for the party, without Harry. She walked behind Ron and Hermione, trying not to notice how cute a couple they made. Molly and Arthur led them to the shiny white table at the end of the entrance hallway and gave their names to the receptionist. The dark haired witch smiled, nodded and pointed them to the large glass doors with bronze handles.

"Enjoy your party." she called behind them.

Ginny approached the desk, just after Ron.

"Ginny Weasley." she gave her name. Then quickly, she corrected, "Ginevra Weasely."

"Ah, there you are, under Ginny," the woman ticked the parchment and smiled up at her, "just to your right, through those glass door, Enjoy the party."

Ginny took one step before turning back again.

"Sorry, but could you tell me if the Potter family have arrived yet?"

The receptionist gave a quick look through the rather long list.

"Potters, Potters, ah, here they are," she looked up at her, "yes, they have arrived." she confirmed.

Ginny's heart missed a beat and her cheeks flushed in anger. She was going to let Harry have it this time. How could he leave her waiting and come to the party himself? For the better part of this year, he had been in a different dimension. They had been separated for so long, was it too much to ask from him to honour their dates?

"Merlin help you, Harry Potter," she muttered as she turned away, "you're going to need it this time!"

"Beg your pardon?" the receptionist asked, halting Ginny.

"Oh, sorry," Ginny shook her head, "I was talking to myself."

"I see," the receptionist pulled her glasses lower and looked at Ginny, "I thought I heard you say, Harry Potter?"

Ginny mentally groaned. Fame was one thing, but whispering Harry's name alone was enough to gain the whole room's attention.

"Yes, I...I was supposed to meet him."

The receptionist smiled brightly.

"So it's true then? Ginevra Weasley really is dating Harry Potter?"

Ginny grimaced. _'Depends, if I don't murder him this time.'_

"For now," she replied, "but if he makes a habit of attending parties without me, I may just dump his ass."

She couldn't help but smile a little at the shocked look on the other woman.

"I'm sure you don't need me to tell you how envious the general female population is of you," the receptionist remarked, "I wouldn't give up on him just yet. In any case, Mr Harry Potter isn't here."

Ginny paused, her smirk falling from her face.

"But you said the Potters had already arrived?"

"They have indeed," the witch replied, "A Mr James, Mrs Lily and Mr Damien Potter arrived some fifteen minutes ago. But Mr Harry Potter wasn't with them."

Ginny was instantly worried.

"He wasn't?" she asked, "you sure?"

The receptionist gave a tinkering laugh.

"Miss Weasley, I assure you, I would have noticed if Harry Potter had arrived at this party." her eyes gleamed with excitement, "it's not everyday one meets the famous boy wizard who defeated You-Know-Who and single-handedly saved the wizarding word..."

But Ginny was barely listening to her. She could only focus on one thing. Harry wasn't here but the rest of his family were. Somehow, she knew the reason couldn't be anything good. With the young receptionist still talking, fantasising about meeting the legendary Harry Potter, Ginny turned and hurried to the floo, stepping back into the green flames.

xxx

Harry was doing everything he could, but the nosebleed wouldn't stop. If anything, it was getting heavier. Blindly, Harry grabbed the towel hanging next to the door and held it against his nose, staggering away from the blood-stained sink.

He opened the bathroom door and stumbled into the hallway. He was already breathless, being able to only breathe through his mouth for the time being, when a crippling pain rose inside him, stealing his very breath and bringing him to his knees. With one hand, he held the fast-soaking towel to his nose and the other arm curled around his stomach. A muffled groan was all that left him.

He heard the floo downstairs going off and gave a mental cry of relief.

"Harry?" Ginny's voice echoed from below, "are you home? Harry?"

Try as he may, Harry couldn't suck in a breath deep enough to call out. The stabbing pain was spreading across his torso like fire. Blood from his nose leaked through the thick towel, trickling out between his fingers to pool on the floor.

"Harry?" Ginny's voice grew faint, as she went from room to room, searching for him.

Harry pulled the towel away and managed, through sheer force of will, to breathe in a gasp past the excruciating pain and call out to her.

"Gin!"

It was throaty and rough, but his voice carried through the house

"Harry?" Ginny's hurried footsteps became louder.

Harry tried again.

"Ginny!"

"Harry!" Ginny sounded panicked as she raced up the stairs.

Harry tried to pull himself up, but any move he made only sent spiking jolts of agony through his middle. He stayed where he was, huddled on the floor, lower part of his face stained red as his nose continued to leak blood.

Ginny reached the landing and saw him at once.

"Harry!" she cried and darted towards him. She came to kneel by his side, brown eyes wide and fearful, staring at him. "Oh my God! Oh my God! What-what happened?"

"Gin-" Harry tried but could barely speak. He groaned and tightened his grip around his stomach. "It...feels...knives in me...Gin...!"

"I'll contact the hospital!" Ginny got up and ran to Harry's room to use the fireplace. She was back in moments. "The Healer's coming," she knelt next to him, clutching onto Harry's blood-stained hand, "he's coming, Harry, just...just hold on, everything's going to be okay. You're going to be okay, just hold on."

Harry heard the floo going off again downstairs. His room's floo was locked. It allowed firecalls but no one could floo in or out, not without Harry's permission. All floo's in Potter manor were like that, except one. Something Harry had set up. That way, he knew where visitors, invited or otherwise, could come from.

Harry saw the tall, grey haired Healer reach the landing and hurry towards him, before he lost the battle to stay awake and slipped into the bliss of unconsciousness.

xxx

"Mr Potter?"

James turned around, drink still in hand, to look at the dark haired receptionist.

"You have a call, sir."

James frowned.

"A call?" he asked, "is it from my son? Is he running late?"

The receptionist shook her head.

"It's from Miss Weasley. She says she needs to speak to you urgently."

James was instantly concerned.

"Ginny?"

He put down his glass and hurried out of the banquet hall, down the hallway and into a room, just to the rear of the receptionist's desk. Inside the small room was just one broad dark-stoned fireplace, which right now had bright green flames inside it and Ginny Weasley's floating head.

"Ginny?" James came to kneel in front of the fire, "what's wrong?"

Ginny's tired face peered back at him.

"Harry's taken ill," she replied, "I thought you should know."

"Taken ill?" James asked, "what'd you mean?" He was already feeling strangely anxious, awaiting Harry's arrival. It was as if a part of his mind was telling him something was wrong, that Harry wouldn't take this long to get ready. "What happened to him?"

"It's a withdrawal," Ginny replied unhappily, "a pretty intense one."

"Withdrawal?" James looked stunned, "but he just recovered from one, not two weeks ago."

"I know," Ginny nodded, "I came in and he...he was on the floor, writhing in pain," she paused, before forcing to go on, "his nose was bleeding, _heavily_. Blood was...everywhere. It scared the life out of me," she met James' horrified eyes, "I called St Mungos and a Healer came at once. He checked Harry and said it was a withdrawal. Apparently, Harry's entered the final withdrawal stage where it's common to have very intense withdrawals and they come more frequently. The Healer was saying to expect about three withdrawals in a four week cycle."

"What?" James gasped, "but...that means-"

"I know," Ginny looked miserable, "Harry's going to be very ill for quite some time. The Healer reckons it'll be over soon though. The addiction's coming to an end. He won't suffer from withdrawals ever again."

"But he's going to fall ill with withdrawals three times in a month?" James asked. "For how long? How many months?"

"I asked, but the Healer said every case is different." Ginny replied. "It can take six, seven months for some, or only two or three for others. It just depends."

"Stay with him, Ginny, I'm on my way." James said.

"It's okay, Mr Potter, I'm going to be here with him," Ginny said, "you don't have to hurry back. You can finish with the party and then come."

James paused.

"You think I can stay and enjoy the party after finding out how ill Harry is?"

"Harry's insisting you stay, for Alice." Ginny said.

"Tell Harry he's an idiot," James replied, "I'm not staying here a moment longer, not when my son is so severely ill."

Ginny turned her head to the side. It looked like she was listening to someone behind her, most likely Harry. Ginny turned back around.

"Harry's saying he doesn't want you to come back until Alice cuts the cake." she smiled weakly, "he doesn't want to ruin her 40th party."

James shook his head.

"I'll be home in a few minutes," he said, "tell genius, when he has kids and God forbid they take ill, I'd like to see him hang back at a party and have some cake."

Ginny smiled a little.

"I'll tell him."

"I just need to get Lily and Damien," James said, "then I'll be on my way."

"Okay, Mr Potter."

"Thanks, Ginny." James said.

Ginny pulled back and the green flames died away, leaving James staring at the cold fireplace.

xxx

"He's on his way." Ginny said, standing up to brush her robes.

On the bed, Harry narrowed his eyes.

"I told you," he said, "you shouldn't have told him."

"Have you seen yourself?" Ginny asked, walking over to sit next to him, "imagine how mad your dad would be if he saw you like this and realised he was enjoying a party while you were at home, sick as a dog."

Harry, in the grip of a fever, still glared at her.

"It's not like him coming home will heal me," he said, "what good will it do?"

Ginny reached out, brushing a hand across Harry's sweaty brow.

"Don't you want someone by your side?" she asked, "it's comfort, Harry, to have you family by your side when you're ill."

"I'm not ill!" Harry protested.

"Fine, incapacitated." she smirked at his glare, "better?"

"Go away."

Ginny chuckled.

"Alright, I'm sorry," she turned his face back so she could look at him, "but you really have to let this whole I-won't-let-anyone-see-me-when-I'm-not-well thing go. Family is there, no matter what."

Harry calmed a little, a half smile lifted the corner of his mouth.

"You sound like Damy."

"It happens," Ginny shrugged, "when you spend so much time around a Potter, they rub off on you."

She expected a witty comeback but Harry didn't say anything. He closed his eyes, hands fisted into balls. Ginny stared at him. The Healer had explained that the pain in Harry's stomach was likely to get worse. It would come and go. It was just a spasm of pain, nothing more than another symptom of the final withdrawal stage, just like the heavy nosebleeds and unfortunately, there was nothing anyone could do to help. Harry was just going to have to grit his teeth and get through it the best he could.

Ginny watched as Harry's whole body trembled. Both arms curled around his stomach and he groaned, turning to his side.

"Gin!" he panted, "g-go, please."

Ginny rose to her feet but didn't move away. She couldn't bring herself to do it, not even at Harry's command.

"I can't leave you, not like this, Harry."

Beads of perspiration grew on Harry's brow, trickling down his face. His jaw was clenched so tight, Ginny could see the muscle twitch in his neck. Another groan left him, tearing Ginny's heart to shreds.

"Gin!" Harry grabbed the edge of the bed with a white-knuckled grip.

Ginny couldn't stop herself. She climbed on top of the bed, crossing over to sit behind Harry. She rubbed a hand down his back, trying to do something, anything that might bring him some sort of comfort. But Harry flinched away from her touch, gasping in pain.

"D-don't!" he cried, "don't do t-that!"

Ginny halted, hand still outstretched. She only wanted to offer comfort, to show to Harry that she was here for him. But it seemed Harry didn't want that. She was about to move, to climb off the bed in dejected sorrow when Harry turned suddenly. He gripped onto Ginny's robes, bringing his head to rest in her lap, stifling his grunts of agony. Ginny, surprised, reached out at once, brushing his sweat soaked bangs away from his forehead. He was burning up with a fever so high, she could feel the warmth seep through her lap.

For long minutes, Harry lay on his front, head buried in her lap, as she stroked his hair. Finally, the pain seemed to diminish, leaving Harry breathless but somewhat calm. The tension and strain eased out of his tightly wound body. Ginny's hand moved slowly from the nape of his neck, down the middle of his shoulders to rub soothing circles into his back. Again, Harry tensed, halting Ginny.

"Don't do that." Harry repeated, his voice guttural and rough.

"Why?" Ginny asked, "why can't you stand anyone touching you?"

Harry was silent. Then he shifted precariously to his side but his head stayed in Ginny's lap.

"I just don't like it." he murmured.

"Why?" Ginny pushed.

"I just don't."

Ginny continued to stroke his hair.

"You don't always have to keep everything so secretive, you know." she said quietly.

Harry stayed silent.

"Harry?" she rubbed a hand across his neck, feeling the heat radiating from his skin.

"Yeah," he muttered. "I'm listening."

Ginny sighed and turned, reaching out to the charmed cold packs left on the bedside drawer by the Healer. She held one against Harry's neck, while rubbing a hand down Harry's arm as he shivered.

"There's so much about you that I still don't know," Ginny said, "and you don't have to tell me if you really don't want to, it's fine," she said, "but...it would make me feel better, if I knew a little more about you." her hand ghosted over his back, "especially things that you dislike. And you never know, if you open up a bit, it might even make you feel better."

Harry was quiet so Ginny slid into silence as well. She sat, holding the cold pack against Harry's neck, fingers running through his hair, stopping at his forehead to gently massage it. It as a good few minutes before Harry spoke.

"Ginny?"

"Yes, Harry."

He paused.

"Have you ever been inside my pensieve?"

Ginny's heart skipped a beat.

"No." she replied. She had no desire to go into his pensieve and witness the horrors that were held in there.

"You must have heard about it though? From Damy?"

Ginny nodded.

"Just enough."

Harry went quiet again.

"Did Damien ever...did he tell you what the punishments were?"

Ginny was surprised. More than that, she was outright stunned that Harry was talking about his abuse. Harry didn't talk about that, not to his parents, not to his friends, not even to Damien.

"No." Ginny replied.

Harry took a moment.

"It was a belt," he whispered, "that's what...what _he_ used most of the time."

Ginny felt her insides turn to ice. A belt? Oh God, Voldemort used to...to beat Harry with a belt?

"Back then, I thought it wasn't intentional. That he just got angry and hit me, not caring where he struck." Harry went on in a harrowing voice, "but now...now I know, it was all intentional. He would purposefully belt my back. Tear my skin open," his shaking hands fisted into balls around her robes, "cause he knew how horrific a child's imagination can be for the unseen." he closed his eyes, "I used to hold up mirrors, trying to see the damage, to convince myself that all my skin hadn't been pulled off my back."

Ginny stifled her cry of horror, trying to keep as still as possible. She didn't want to distract Harry and have him close up again. He had never opened up to her like this, never spoke about _that_ time in his life.

"The pain was...it was more than I could handle," Harry continued, eyes open now and fixed on a spot on the wall, "after a belting, I wasn't to be healed for days. That was worse than the actual beating itself. I couldn't sleep on my back, couldn't sit leaning against anything. The welts and cuts would throb and burn and I...I couldn't even reach them to relieve the pain."

Ginny didn't speak. She honestly couldn't get any words past the tightness of her throat.

"It was always her who healed me," Harry went on in a quiet, almost whispered voice. Ginny didn't have to ask, she knew he was talking about Bellatrix, who had pretended to be Lily. "She would never hit me. She would yell and shout, berate me, humiliate me, but she never struck me." Harry's breath hitched in his chest, but he forced it out in slow long breath, "the earliest memory I have is of my dad pinning me down and hitting me with his belt. I must have done something exceptionally bad, 'cause he was livid. He didn't stop, he just kept hitting and hitting. I passed out when he kicked me in the head." he faltered and Ginny just about managed to hold in her sob, hot tears spilled down her cheeks but she silently wiped them away, careful that none fell onto Harry.

"I woke up a few hours later and I was still lying there, on the floor of the attic," Harry continued, "I couldn't move. My back was throbbing, my whole body, just...one whole mass of agony. I developed a fever because the cuts became infected. Of course I didn't know that at the time, I was only three," he paused and Ginny could see the effort straining him to keep talking, "I remember her coming in. She walked over and...she picked me up. I remember, even when I was delirious with pain, I remember how much comfort that simple action brought. I told myself, '_see, she does care'_." he fell quiet again, almost like he couldn't go on. But with noticeable strain, he continued, "she brought me to my bed and lay me down on my front. She had to cut my top off, it was ripped to shreds by the belt anyway." he swallowed heavily, "to this day, I don't know what it was she poured onto my back, but it felt like acid. It burned so bad, I actually thought she had lit me on fire. But she...she rubbed my back, as if she was comforting me, but all she was doing was sending the potion deeper into the cuts. It must have been something that was supposed to heal me and it did a few hours later, but at the time it was agony. I begged her to stop but she...she kept on going, rubbing the potion into the cuts, until I almost passed out again."

He paused.

"I never put the memory in the pensieve." he revealed, "I kept that one with me."

"Why?" Ginny asked, her voice choked full of tears.

"Because it was the only time I remembered my mum picking me up."

Ginny's heart broke. She bit her lip, struggling not to cry out, but she couldn't stop the tears that streamed from her eyes.

"It's stupid, I know," Harry continued, "but I wanted to remember what it felt like, being lifted into someone's arms, held close, even if the comfort was only wishful thinking on my part."

Ginny didn't say anything, she couldn't find the right words. She finally understood now. She knew why Harry didn't like anyone touching his back. Why he wanted to be alone when he was ill. It all stemmed from this one memory. This one, horrific torture Harry had been through at the tender age of three.

But Ginny knew it wasn't just once that this sort of abuse had been inflicted on Harry. There must have been more, countless times when Harry was struck, beaten, tortured and then left to writhe in pain for days.

Ginny realised why Harry didn't want anyone with him when he was in pain. If he was alone, he thought he was safe. Some part of Harry's subconscious mind told him that if someone was with him, at a time he was at his most vulnerable, he would get hurt.

She realised even the way Harry slept; on his stomach, was most likely due to the abuse he suffered at Voldemort's hands. How many nights must have Harry slept on his front to protect his torn back, for it to become a habit? One that he couldn't grow out of, even in fourteen years?

Ginny sucked in a breath to steady herself. She bent over and kissed Harry on the cheek.

"Thank you." she whispered.

"For what?" Harry asked.

"For baring your soul."

Harry paused.

"Did it make you feel better?" he asked.

Ginny bit her lip, stifling a sob.

"No." she replied honestly.

Harry nodded.

"Me neither." he whispered.

They fell into silence, the only sound was Harry's laboured breathing. Ginny held still, listening to the sound, her hands caressing Harry's hair. Only when she heard his breathing even out, indicating he had fallen asleep, did she finally allow herself to cry.

xxx

James and Lily opened the door to Harry's room and stepped in quietly. Their eyes met Ginny's red rimmed ones. Ginny was still on the bed, Harry's head nestled in her lap, as he lay fast asleep. James and Lily walked closer, coming to kneel next to the sleeping Harry.

"How is he?" James asked in a whisper.

"Not great," Ginny replied, "he's only just fallen asleep, can't have been more than five minutes."

James nodded. He noticed the tear tracks down the girl's face. He smiled softly and reached out, cupping her face.

"It's okay, Ginny, don't get upset," he glanced down at his sleeping son, "Harry's tough. He's going to be fine. He's got all of us to help him."

Ginny dropped her gaze and nodded. She could never tell James the real reason she had cried. The poor man already had enough nightmares to keep him up at nights. She didn't want to add another to the list.

Damien appeared at the door.

"How's he doin, Ginny?" he called

Ginny shook her head.

"Not great."

Damien's concerned gaze rested on his brother.

"Why does it always have to get worse before it gets better?" he asked.

"Don't know," Ginny said absently stroking Harry's cheek, "but I really hope it gets better soon."

James smiled at her.

"You must have a very comforting touch," he remarked, "I've never seen Harry sleep so peacefully, especially when in a withdrawal."

Ginny smiled back weakly.

"It's the withdrawal," she said, "it's taken a lot out of him."

Lily brushed a hand over Ginny's head, lovingly.

"Thank you," she said, "you were here for him. You acted responsibly and called a Healer and you stayed and looked after him," her sharp gaze had noted the cool packs on the bed. "Thank you, Ginny. I'm eternally grateful."

"It was nothing, Mrs Potter, really." Ginny replied.

James stood up.

"I'm just going to call Sirius and Remus, tell them Harry's fine. They were worried, as was Frank and Alice." James said stepping to the door.

"I'll let Ron and Hermione know." Damien said and both father and son stepped out.

"I'll call your mum and dad, let them know you'll be home later on." Lily said.

Ginny nodded and watched as Lily turned to go to the door.

"Mrs Potter?"

Lily turned.

"Yes, Ginny?"

Ginny steadied herself.

"Do...do you have any memories of lifting Harry up when he was a baby?"

Lily looked thrown by the question.

"Of course I do."

Ginny paused.

"I think you should share them with Harry," she said, "he would like that."

Lily looked from Ginny to the sleeping Harry, staring at her son's peaceful expression before she looked back up at Ginny. She didn't know why Ginny made such a strange request but something in the girl's expression tugged at her heart. She nodded.

"Yeah," she smiled, "that sounds nice."

Ginny only gave a teary smile before she looked down at Harry again. As Lily left the room, Ginny bent low to kiss Harry lightly on the cheek.

xxx


	8. A Night to Remember

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Wetboy's Request - _Harry's stag night and Ginny's Hen night._

Dedicated to Wetboy. Enjoy!

**A Night to Remember**

"I swear to Merlin, you've got raisins for brains!" Damien snapped.

Draco gave a steely, grey-eyed glare.

"I would say the same to you, but I'm not sure what you have, even are raisins."

"If you think, for even a millisecond, that Harry's going to choose you over me, then you are delusional." Damien said.

"How long have you known Harry?" Draco asked, "seven, eight years? I've known him for _eighteen_ years," he smirked and leaned back in his seat, "now tell me, who should be his Best Man?"

"I'm his brother!" Damien argued, "it's my right!"

"No, it's not," Draco returned, "he's _my_ best friend so _I'm_ going to be his Best Man."

Harry sat between them, rubbing at his temples.

"I swear," he growled, "you two keep this up and I''ll make Ron my Best Man!"

Both Draco and Damien stopped, turning to look at Harry in shock.

"You wouldn't!" Draco said, revolted.

"That's what your incessant arguing is drawing me closer to!" Harry snapped. He got to his feet and grabbed his cloak, "sort this out before _I _do it for you!"

With that he stormed out, leaving Damien and Draco sitting in Potter manor. For the next few minutes, neither boy spoke, each sitting glaring in the opposite direction. Damien was the first to let out a frustrated sigh.

"We have to work something out." he said grumpily.

"No shit, genius." Draco drawled.

Damien turned to glare at him.

"For once, can you not be the problem and offer a solution?"

Draco opened his mouth but then thought better of his remark. He looked away, sitting in stony silence for a few minutes.

"Well?" Damien prompted, "what do you think we should do?"

"That's easy, you back down."

"Not gonna happen." Damien glowered.

It was Draco's turn to sigh. He tapped the arm of the sofa, looking at Damien with unease.

"Well, I'm not giving in and if you won't back down either then I have no doubt whatsoever, that Harry will get that buffoon Weasley to be his Best Man," he gave a little shiver, whether it was in humour or genuine horror, Damien couldn't tell, " so I guess...we could do this Best Man thing...together."

Damien gaped at him.

"You mean...both of us be his Best Man?"

"It doesn't say anywhere it has to be only one Best Man," Draco said, "we could be Harry's Best Men."

Damien thought about it.

"Both of us, working together?" he asked.

"Wouldn't be the first." Draco reminded.

Damien shifted in his seat, his mind racing back through the years, to that night when Draco and him walked up to Riddle manor, to save Harry's life. Damien pushed back those memories. He focused on the blond sitting across from him and took in a deep sigh.

"Okay," he agreed, "let's do it. Both of us will be Harry's Best Men."

A hint of a smile crossed Draco's face and he nodded.

"Very well."

"What do you want to work on first?" Damien asked.

"A pressing matter," Draco grinned, "the stag night."

xxx

Ginny sat at the dressing table, brushing her hair when Harry came out of the shower with only a towel draped around his middle. Ginny stopped, distracted by Harry's half covered form. She loved the way his wet hair fell into his eyes. The tiny beads of water glistening on his smooth arms and chest made her want to kiss each little droplet away. When her wandering brown-eyed stare reached his face, she found bright green eyes staring back at her. Harry smirked as he reached for his clothes, laid out on the bed.

"Done staring, Miss Weasley?"

Ginny grinned, albeit a little bashfully and continued brushing her hair.

"Can't help it," she said, "you look particularly delicious."

Harry chuckled and pulled on his top.

"Have to say, you're looking exceptionally delectable yourself."

Ginny glanced at her white and blue silk dress in the mirror and beamed.

"It is nice, isn't it?" she asked, running a hand down her newly purchased outfit.

"I'm more interested in what's under the dress." Harry teased, buttoning up his jeans.

Ginny turned around to look at him.

"Honestly, don't you think of anything else?"

"You were the one staring at me," Harry defended, "when I wasn't dressed." he added.

"True," Ginny smirked, "but I have an incredibly sexy fiancé, so I can't help myself."

Harry walked towards Ginny and leaned down to cup her face in his hands.

"So just imagine how I feel?" he asked.

He leaned down and kissed her, a long sensuous kiss. When he pulled away, Ginny was smiling in that dreamy contented way that always made Harry grin.

"I'm gonna miss this." Ginny whispered.

"Miss what?" Harry asked.

"You," Ginny's fingers ghosted over Harry's lips, "the touch of these," her hand trailed up Harry's cheek, "waking up and seeing your face," she kissed him again, "I'm going to miss this so much."

"Gin," Harry's hand closed over hers and he pulled it away before kneeling before her.

"If you don't want to go, just say."

But Ginny shook her head.

"I wish I could say no," she sighed, "but mum will make a huge song and dance about it and she'll get upset and I don't want that." she paused, lost in her thoughts before letting out a breath of frustration, "I just don't understand. I'm already living with you. Why can't I continue? All this silly talk about _tradition_ and not being in the same house as the groom and coming here as a bride, it's just dated nonsense."

"Agreed." Harry nodded.

Ginny sighed.

"Problem is, it's dated nonsense that mum cares an awful lot about."

"When do they want you back at the Burrow?"

"This weekend," Ginny said, "so it'll be exactly two weeks before the wedding."

Harry nodded. He smiled at Ginny's dejected expression.

"Let them have you for two weeks," he said, "you'll be with me for the rest of our lives."

Ginny smile and leaned forward to kiss him. She straightened up and flicked her hair behind her as she scrutinised Harry's casual attire.

"So, any idea where the boys are taking you tonight?" she asked.

"No idea," Harry said as he got to his feet, "but I'm guessing it'll be the usual."

Ginny looked up at him with a frown.

"Usual?"

"You know," Harry prompted, while running his hands through his damp hair, trying to settle it, "drinks, drinks and more drinks."

"You're getting pissed at your stag do?" Ginny asked.

Harry paused.

"As opposed to?"

"No, I meant, that's _all_ you'll be doing?" she asked.

Harry smirked.

"What else did you have in mind?"

Ginny got to her feet, smoothing out her dress.

"The kind of stuff that happens on stag nights," she answered, "you know? night clubs, poles, lap dances and the sort."

Harry chuckled.

"Gin, its Damy that's planned this thing," he shook his head in self-amusement, "I'd be surprised if he got the drinks right."

"I don't expect Damien to set anything like that up," Ginny admitted, "it's Draco that I don't trust."

Harry laughed and turned around, wrapping both hands around Ginny's waist to pull her closer.

"I'd be really surprised if the two of them pull off a stag night like that," he assured, "what about you? what are the plans for your hen do?"

"I don't know," Ginny replied, "but I know it'll be tasteful. Hermione's planning it."

"Ah, Hermione," Harry smiled, "I can see it now; an evening of finger sandwiches and tea."

"There's nothing wrong with that." Ginny argued.

"Of course not," Harry replied, "if you're meeting up with friends for afternoon tea."

Ginny stepped out of his embrace and reached for her perfume on the dressing table.

"Would you rather I go to a club instead and watch other men," she smirked, "_undress?_"

Harry paused for a moment.

"Good point," he said, "don't know what I was thinking."

Ginny smiled and turned around to look at him.

"Behave yourself tonight," she warned, "and if you know what's good for you," she playfully narrowed her eyes, "avoid lap dances at all costs."

xxx

Hermione held the door open to the group of girls behind her.

Ginny, Fleur and six of Ginny's friends entered the restaurant. It was a fancy place, a five star establishment with cream coloured walls, a thick white carpet and a large crystal chandelier hanging in the foyer. A pleasantly dressed witch stood next to a floating, gold-trimmed parchment. Hermione hurried past the rest to speak to her.

"Good Evening," the witch smiled, flashing a set of perfect white teeth, "do you have a reservation?"

"Yes," Hermione answered, "it's under Granger."

The witch turned to the parchment, scanning down the long list.

"You booked it under your name?" Ginny whispered to Hermione.

"Of course," Hermione replied, "a decoy, you know, to keep this all under wraps."

Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Honestly, Hermione, you're not on a secret mission. It's only a hen-do."

"For Harry Potter's fiancé and the star player of the Holyhead Harpies," Hermione whispered, "you know what this place would have been like if that information slipped out? There would be reporters everywhere."

"Not after what happened to Rita Skeeter." Ginny muttered.

Hermione's lips twitched, but she refrained from smiling.

"I repeat, what Harry did to her was not funny," she ran a hand down her dress, smoothing it out, "even though that vile woman deserved it."

The witch at reception turned back to them with a smile.

"If you come with me, I'll show you to your table."

They followed the smiling witch down the long hallway to a set of glass panelled doors which opened to an impressive banquet hall.

Each table situated inside was covered in crisp white tablecloth, upon which were vases of flowers and tall candles. It was pretty busy, almost all of the tables were occupied. Ginny's table was near the ceiling to floor glass window, showcasing the marvellous sight of the city, with twinkling lights glittering like diamonds across the dark canvas of the night. It was a sight to behold.

Ginny and the other eight took their seats at the table, just as the server arrived with tall glasses of champagne.

Ginny took her glass and sipped, smiling happily.

Tonight was going to be a night to remember. She just knew it.

xxx

Damien and Draco had planned Harry's stag night at a bar. The entire building had been reserved just for them, Draco Malfoy's idea of course, and the drinks were due to be an endless cocktail of all Harry's favourite beverages, naturally Damien's idea.

Harry sat down at the one and only table, set for four, glancing around his surroundings. Draco, Damien and Ron took their seats as the first round of drinks arrived.

"How did you find this place?" Harry asked.

"It's Draco's choice," Damien replied, "he wanted some place private and understated."

Draco nodded at Harry over his drink.

"The venue has to reflect the person," he smirked, "what else?" he asked, holding his arms out, gesturing to their surroundings.

Harry grinned and took a gulp of his drink.

"What else indeed." he chuckled.

xxx

Ginny and her girlfriends were giggling at something one of them said, that without alcohol probably wouldn't be half as funny, when the receptionist hurried over to their table.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," she flustered, "but is there a Miss Ginevra Weasley at this table?"

"Me," Ginny hiccuped, "I'm she...her...erm, Ginevra Weasley."

"For now," Brittany added and everyone at the table burst into uncontrollable laughter.

"I'm sorry," Ginny waved a hand at the receptionist, "ignore them. What can I do for you?"

"There's an Auror at the door, wanting to speak to you. It's regarding Mr Harry Potter." the receptionist replied.

Ginny's giddiness evaporated instantly. Her eyes sharpened and the smile slid from her face.

"What?" she asked, rising to her feet, "what did he say? What happened to Harry?"

"He wouldn't say. He wishes to speak to you directly," the receptionist replied, "it seems urgent. He mentioned something about an incident."

"What?" Ginny exclaimed and like a shot, she was running towards the door.

"Ginny! Wait up!" Hermione called, running after her. The rest followed behind, their smiles and jovial expressions replaced with anxiety.

Ginny ran past the glass panelled door and down the long hallway. She saw the blue uniformed Auror standing at the entrance door, a sombre look on his face. She came to a stop before him, brown eyes wide with panic.

"What happened?" she asked, "Harry? Is Harry okay?"

"Miss Ginevra Weasley?" the Auror asked.

"Yes, yes," Ginny snapped, "it's me, what happened to Harry? Is he alright?"

"Miss Weasley, there's been an incident." the Auror replied.

"What kind of an incident?" Hermione asked, coming to stand behind Ginny.

The young Auror paused, glancing at Hermione before looking back at Ginny.

"It's difficult to explain. It's best if you come with me," he said, "Mr Potter had to be rushed to hospital by a team of Aurors. He's at St Mungos and he wishes to speak with you."

"Oh my God!" Ginny turned to face Hermione in horror. "Hermione, Harry...?"

"It'll be okay, don't worry, Ginny." Hermione consoled. She turned to the Auror, "I'm coming with her." she said, holding onto Ginny's hand.

The Auror glanced at the crowd of seven girls behind Ginny and Hermione.

"All of you?" he asked.

"No, just me." Hermione replied.

"And me," Fleur stepped forward, "she iz my family."

"If you wish," the Auror replied, "but the hospital will only allow immediate family members to see Mr Potter."

"We understand." Hermione replied.

The Auror led them out of the restaurant and asked them to apparate to St Mungos.

Hermione and Fleur held onto Ginny's hands and apparated, taking her along side-along with them.

xxx

When they arrived, Ginny blinked in surprise at her surroundings. Instead of the bright main entrance of St Mungos, they were in a dark room, with only a series of small spotlights dimmed overhead.

"Hermione?" Ginny asked, "where-where are we?"

"I don't know," Hermione replied, staring around the dark room, "I was aiming for the hospital."

"Az waz I." Fleur added.

A series of pops and the other seven girls suddenly arrived, surrounding Ginny.

"What-?" Ginny stared at them, "what's going on?"

The lights came up all of a sudden, momentarily blinding Ginny. She blinked rapidly, holding out a hand to shield her eyes. Her other hand was gripped around her wand. What she saw, took her breath away.

There was a stage before them and standing on top of the stage, was the blue uniformed Auror that had come to the restaurant. Only now, he was smiling at Ginny, his eyes sparkling with mischief. He raised a hand and clicked his fingers and music suddenly blared all around them. The man flicked open the buttons to his robes and slowly, peeled them off, dropping them to the floor.

Ginny turned to the pink faced Hermione, who was smiling sheepishly at her.

"Surprise?" she tried feebly.

Ginny had half a mind to hex her friend.

"You...you...!" Ginny struggled to find the right words to use against her, "this is so not funny!"

"I know, I know," Hermione said, "it was Fleur's idea to use Harry as an excuse."

Ginny turned to her sister-in-law with wide eyes.

Fleur shrugged.

"It worked." she stated simply.

Ginny narrowed her eyes.

"I'm sorry," Hermione said, "but we wanted to get you here without letting on what we were up to."

"And you couldn't have come up with anything else?" Ginny asked, incensed.

"Um, excuse me?" the young man called from the stage, "it'd be nice to have your attention."

"I'll give you attention!" Ginny made to march her way to the stage but Hermione and Fleur grabbed a hold of her arms, pulling her back.

"Come on, Ginny," Brittany came to her side, as did the rest, "it was only meant as an excuse to get you here."

"All of you were in this together?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah," Brittany shrugged, "even the receptionist at the restaurant."

Ginny's eyes bulged.

"What!"

"You zee, how much ve had to plan." Fleur said.

"It'd be a shame if you don't enjoy it." Jessica, an old Hogwarts friend, added.

"It really would." Brittany said.

Ginny scanned each one before turning to Hermione. She held out a finger.

"If you ever, _ever_ use Harry as an excuse like that again, I swear, I'll never talk to you."

"I won't, I promise." Hermione agreed.

Ginny let out a breath and then turned to face the stage.

"Alright," she waved a hand at him, "do your thing."

The stripper smiled and winked at her.

"As you wish, madame."

The girls took their seats, laughing and whistling at the man, as he slowly teased every item of his clothing off his body. When he was left in only his dark trousers, he whistled and another three men appeared on stage, dancing to the beat as they slowly stripped out of their clothes.

"I would never have thought you would arrange something like this." Ginny said to Hermione.

"Hey, I know how to have fun," Hermione defended, "although, I have to admit, this was mostly Brittany's idea." she nodded at the girl who was whistling loudly at the stage and clapping like there was no tomorrow, "she said it would be a good surprise for you," Hermione continued, "although, I will say, that I still find this demeaning and disrespectful and..." she paused, glancing at Ginny, "yeah, shut up Hermione and watch the show."

Ginny nodded.

"Took the words from my mouth." but she grinned at last and turned to watch.

The main stripper, the one pretending to be the Auror, pulled off his trousers to leave himself in only a black thong. The crowd of girls erupted in cheers, making Ginny laugh and clap along with them. The man set his eyes on Ginny and jumped off the stage, starting to make his way towards her.

"Oh no." she muttered.

xxx

Harry was on his fourth drink and so far, he was having a great time. The intimate gathering of his brother and his two friends was all he needed. At least, that's what he thought. The lights in the already dark bar dimmed even more, before soft sultry music began to play. Ron and Damien cheered, drunkly hitting their glasses together before looking around at the back doors. Three girls, all tall, blonde and barely dressed came out of the room.

Harry turned to Draco.

"I told you not to do this."

Draco shook his head.

"It wasn't me." he replied.

Harry turned, in shock, to his younger brother.

"Damy?"

Damien grinned at him.

"Hey, it's a stag night," he said, "this is what happens on stag nights."

"How would you know?" Harry asked.

"I know these things," Damien insisted, "besides, this the absolute last time ever, _ever_, you can look at other women."

"Because after you're married, you catch gender blindness, where you can only see men." Draco remarked dryly.

The three girls were bewitchingly beautiful. Shiny, golden-blonde hair, tanned smooth skin with long limbs, the girls danced with unbidden allure. Their short skirts lifted with every sway of their hips. The one in the forefront had her smoky grey eyes fixed on Harry and she smiled seductively at him. She licked her lips and began undressing the already barely there outfit.

"I don't know how appropriate this is, what with Ron here." Harry gestured to his bride-to-be's brother sitting across from him.

"Throw him out," Draco quickly offered, "you want me to do it?" his wand already in his hand.

Harry shushed him with a look.

"I'm trying, really hard, not to think about who it is you're marrying in two weeks." Ron replied to Harry. "Just...just don't do anything...too wild, so I can forget about it."

"I'm not doing anything," Harry defended, "Ginny was already worked up at the thought of lap dances and strippers."

"What is she doing at her hen-do?" Damien asked.

"Whatever Hermione's planned." Harry replied.

"Oh, in that case, she's at a club, watching men strip and dance around her," Ron replied. Then grimacing, he held up his glass, "I wasn't drunk enough to say that." he took a large gulp of his drink.

"What?" Harry asked, shocked, "Hermione arranged a visit to a strip club?"

"Who would have thought?" Draco mused.

The girl at the front pulled off her skirt to reveal little golden hot pants. She threw the skirt at Harry, who caught it but dropped the garment on the floor. The other two girls followed the example so all three were left in hot pants and matching golden bras.

The way they danced, the sway of their hips and flow of their thick, glossy hair, it stole a spell over all who watched.

"Damy," Harry murmured, snapping out of the mesmerised daze, "these girls, are they...did you get...Veelas?"

Damien leapt from his chair and yelled at the girls,

"I can fight a toothless dragon!"

Ron was close behind.

"I can catch stars! On my Cleansweep 300!"

"Yep," Harry sighed, "definitely Veelas."

Draco pushed back his chair and stood up.

"I can-"

"No, no," Harry pulled his arm to make Draco sit back down, "you have Astoria waiting for you back home."

"Who?" Draco asked, grey eyes still fixed on the dancing Veelas.

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"This is going to be a long night." he muttered before taking another swig of his drink.

The Veela at the forefront moved forward confidently, striding right up to Harry. She pretty much ignored the rest, her eyes fixed on Harry.

"And what can you do?" she asked in a silky voice, bending low to trail a long fingered hand across Harry's chest.

Harry smiled.

"Nothing for you, I'm afraid."

The Veela grinned, flashing her teeth.

"Is that so?"

She reached back with both hands, and Harry knew what she was doing. She was unhooking her bra.

"Hey, look, you don't have to-" he paused when the Veela held up her hands. A pair of shiny, silver handcuffs dangled from her grip.

"After that comment, I have to hold you in contempt." she grinned.

"That's...weird," Harry said, "but no thanks."

"Aww, come on, Harry!" Damien whined, "play along!"

"Come on," the Veela purred, reaching out to hold onto Harry's hand, "it's okay, I'll be gentle." she winked.

Just like that, she snapped the metal restraint onto one of Harry's wrists. She pulled so Harry had to stand up. The other three cheered loudly as the Veela led Harry to the front. She pressed close to him, swaying her hips this way and that. She turned around and pressed her back to Harry's front and pulled his arms around herself, forcing an embrace. The boys hooted and cheered. The Veela cuffed Harry's other hand too, the solid click ringing in the air. She turned around to face him, wrapped in his bound arms.

"This isn't as much of a turn on for me, as you may think." Harry chuckled.

He had been arrested and handcuffed too many times by Aurors to find anything remotely exciting about it.

The Veela smiled again and slowly slid down, pressing against Harry's front. Harry made it easier for her and lifted his arms, so she could move away from him. The Veelas danced around Harry, pressing themselves against him and running their hands over his body and into his hair. The one that had cuffed him, stood in front and the other two made their way to the table, one going for Damien and Ron, while the other went for Draco.

The Veela ran her hands down Harry's front, before looping her hands around Harry's neck, pressing herself close to him.

"What about now?" she asked, her voice husky, "what could you do for me now?"

Harry shook his head.

"Sorry," he grinned, "it's just not working on me."

The Veela smiled, her eyes sharpening.

"We'll see about that."

She pushed Harry to sit on the single chair, placed there by one of the other girls. The Veela straddled in his lap and raised Harry's cuffed hands over her head and down to her waist, so it was as if Harry was hugging her again. She moved closer, her hands in Harry's hair, upper body pressed against his.

"Now?" she asked breathlessly, her mouth precariously close to his.

"No," Harry replied, "not happening."

The Veela sat back and stared at him, before a smile stretched across her face.

"I knew it," she whispered, "you do have it."

Harry frowned.

"Have what?"

The Veela's eyes began to get brighter, the grey rapidly changing to yellow.

"Power." she said, before suddenly lunging forward, baring sharp pointed teeth.

Harry kicked back from the ground, so the chair toppled backwards and the Veela and him were thrown off. The momentum of the fall and the Veela's own action of leaping forward to bite Harry, had her topple right out of Harry's cuffed arms and land on the hard floor. She sat up, yellow eyes slitted and teeth bared. Her face was no longer beautiful, but horribly twisted, with lips that stretched too wide and a mouthful of too many pointed, needle like teeth. Her eyes were yellow and the skin around them was scaly, an absurd looking design that continued down her cheeks and lined along the sides of her neck before twisting back to cover her entire back. Her legs and arms were abnormally long and thin, with sharp, claw-like nails.

Harry rose to his feet, stare fixed on the strange Veela, his hands cuffed in front of him. He heard the scuffle behind him and the horrified yelps of his brother and friends and guessed the other two 'Veelas' had changed too.

"If I knew you would take such offence, I would have lied and said you were doing something for me." Harry taunted.

The Veela, or what Harry had thought was a Veela, laughed as she lifted herself up to stand.

"Men, forever lying," she played along, "can never be honest, can you?"

"What are you?" Harry asked, "you're not Veelas, that's for sure."

He could hear the fight happening behind him, curses, hexes and loud crashes, the sound of table and chairs breaking. Every inch of his being screamed at him to turn around and check if his friends and brother were okay. But he couldn't afford to take his eyes off the threat, not now in any case.

"No," the girl leered, "we are not Veelas. We are something older and...purer than those things." she held her head high, "we are Sirens."

"What do you want?" Harry asked, keeping his stance light and ready to leap out of the way should the Siren choose to attack.

Silently, he was trying to unlock the cuffs so he could free his hands, but the usual spell wasn't working. It seemed the cuffs were part of Sirens magic, not affected by wizards. Harry cursed.

"That should be obvious," the Siren said, "we want you."

Harry smirked.

"Sorry, already taken."

The Siren grinned, flashing those unsightly teeth again.

"You weren't enthralled by us, not like usual men," she said, "that's a sign of a great and rare power, one that's too pure to belong to a mere _wizard_," her eyes flashed, "we want your power, all of it, drained out of you along with your blood."

Harry smirked at the Siren.

"You think I'm a _mere_ wizard?" he shook his head, "aren't you in for a surprise."

"Go ahead," the Siren bent low, eyes slitted and teeth bared, "surprise me, baby."

Behind Harry, there was a thud before Damien's voice yelled, in full panic,

"Harry!"

The Siren ran at him, claws out, ready to dig into his flesh. Harry leapt out of the way, twisting around but the Siren was faster. She threw herself at Harry, her long limbs wrapped around him, knocking him onto his back. She tried to bite his neck but Harry held her back with difficulty, due to his restrained hands. Harry tried to shove her off, but the Siren possessed a strength of her own. She pulled back to swipe her vicious claws at Harry but someone grabbed her hand. The Siren turned with a snarl, only to meet Damien's furious gaze. He smacked her across the face with a broken chair leg, throwing her off Harry and across the floor.

"He said no, bitch, take the hint." he snarled.

He reached down and helped Harry up. That's when Harry took in the sight of his friends. Ron and Draco were fighting off the other two Sirens, with broken pieces of the table and chairs. That meant wands were of no use then. The bartender, the only other person in this secluded, Godforsaken place, was crouching behind his bar, hiding.

"You okay?" Damien asked Harry worriedly.

"I can't get these off." Harry replied, examining his cuffed hands.

Damien put both hands around the steel cuffs, muttering the curse to unlock them, but nothing happened.

"You won't get them off," the Siren was back on her feet, breathing like a wounded beast, "you're trapped, forever."

Harry couldn't help roll his eyes.

"Melodramatic much?" he asked, "forever? Really?"

"Alright," the Siren bent low again, ready to charge at them, "for the rest of your very, very short life," she raised an eyebrow, "better?"

"Much better." Harry replied.

The Siren raced at them, moving faster than Harry thought possible. She tried to strike Damien, but he dodged the sharp claws and twisted out of the way. A kick in her back had her tumbling forward, where Harry's kick caught her midsection, throwing her back. She was up on her feet again, growling.

She lashed out, and this time her swipe caught Damien, throwing him back. She turned and ferociously attacked Harry, who managed to block her, throwing up both hands to protect himself from her claws. She backed Harry against a wall, before going in for the kill. But she had underestimated her opponent. Harry ducked and the Siren's razor sharp claws hit the wall, digging into the stone, momentarily trapping her. She pulled wildly to get free, but before she could, Harry pushed her against the wall, holding her there.

"How did you know I was going to be here today?" he asked.

"Your name is not only famous in wizard circles," the Siren replied, "there's a lot of talk about you, about your raw power and what it's capable of," she turned her head to the side and smiled, licking her lips, "can't blame a girl for trying."

She had worked her claws free and pushed back, freeing herself. Harry stumbled back. The Siren turned and slashed at him, just as Harry held up his bound hands. The claws sliced through the metal chain, freeing Harry. The Siren paused, yellow eyes wide at what she had unintentionally done. Harry rolled his shoulders, flexing his hands and smirked.

"Thanks." he said and drew back his hand to punch her.

She staggered back, breathing heavily, her yellow eyes fixed on Harry. She lashed out with her abnormally long, sinewy arm and her claws managed to graze Harry's face.

Harry reached up to touch his cheek. When he pulled back, his fingers were stained with blood. He smirked darkly at her.

"That all you got?"

The Siren grinned, flashing her sharp pointed teeth.

"Not at all, baby," she purred, "there's plenty more where that came from." she flexed her fingers, showing her claws.

"Bring it, hell-bitch!" Harry growled.

The Siren darted towards him, trying to catch him but Harry ducked and weaved out of the way. He caught her arm and twisted it around, but the bones of a Siren were not easy to break. She threw Harry off and kicked him, throwing him bodily to the floor.

"Harry!"

Harry looked over to see Damien with Ron, throw one of the Sirens to the floor, pinning her to the floor. Damien threw the wooden chair leg at Harry. It skidded across the floor, coming to rest in front of him. Harry grabbed it and turned over, onto his back. It was just in time as the Siren pounced on him. But she didn't realise what was in Harry's hand, not until four inches of it was embedded inside her stomach. Lying on top of him, pinning him to the ground, she stared in horror at Harry and his darkened gaze. Harry dug the transfigured knife deeper into her flesh, but all she could manage was a guttural groan.

"Was it good for you too?" Harry asked.

The Siren only stared at him, her mouth opened in a silent scream. With a sudden blast, she disintegrated in a mess of dust and yellow goo, all over Harry.

"Ugh!" Harry groaned, looking down at his front with a grimace. He was covered in the sticky mess. He shook his head in disgust, "I hate clingy girls."

xxx

The bar was left in complete shambles. Broken furniture was strewn across the floor, shards of glass from broken bottles and glasses glittered in the dim light. Three puddles of yellow goo and dust was all that remained of the Sirens, that had come looking to harvest power from a wizard named, Harry Potter.

Harry sat at one end of the bar, clothes covered in Siren remains. Ron was at the other, attending to the shaken-up bartender, using his talents as a Healer to calm the man down. Draco was crouched over a sticky yellow puddle, prodding it with his wand, no doubt itching to gather samples to experiment for new potions. Harry shook his head at the sight.

Damien came to sit next to him, staring at the mess with quiet eyes.

"Some night, huh?" he remarked.

Harry snorted.

"What'd you expect?" he asked, "it was a night planned by you."

Damien turned to him with a frown.

"And Draco." he pointed out.

"Whose idea was it to have dancing Veelas?" Harry reminded.

Damien coloured a little and dropped his gaze.

"Mine." he sighed

"The _least_ you could have done, is checked that they are in fact Veelas and not power thirsty Sirens out to drain wizards." Harry grouched.

Damien sighed.

"Well," he started, with his trademark smile, "at least it was a night to remember."

xxx

Ginny and Hermione giggled uncontrollably as they recounted the last few hours in the club.

"That was the single most crazy thing, I've ever seen!" Hermione declared, curled up on Ginny's sofa in the living room.

"I'll say," Ginny chuckled, "I don't even know how Brittany undid that...that thing with her teeth-"

"Stop, stop!" Hermione held out her hands, face turning pink with embarrassment, "don't remind me. I don't think I'll ever be able to look at Brittany the same again."

"You?" Ginny asked, "I'm the one that has to work with her."

The giggled before sipping at their coffees, hoping the caffeine would lessen the effect of the alcohol they had consumed with earnest.

"Thank you, Hermione," Ginny smiled, "I had a great time."

"I'm glad," she replied, she grew a little subdued, "I'm really sorry, for scaring you, using Harry."

Ginny nodded.

"Never do that to me again," she said, but her tone was more imploring than angry, "just the thought that something bad happened to Harry..." she paused, "it's more than I can handle."

"I know," Hermione replied softly, "I got caught up in Fleur and Brittany's ideas. I just, I wanted you to have the best time and I wanted to surprise you."

Ginny smiled.

"Well, I was surprised, so job well done."

Hermione laughed, cheeks tinged pink.

"Wonder how Harry's stag night went." she asked, taking another sip of her coffee.

The pop of apparation sounded from the hallway.

"We're about to find out." Ginny put down her cup and turned around, just as Harry walked in.

Ginny stared in horror at Harry's state, at his dirty clothes and bleeding cheek.

"Harry-? What-?" but she was rendered speechless at the sight.

Harry nodded gravely.

"Yep," he took in a long sigh, "I got a lap dance."

xxx


	9. The First Date

**Disclaimer** I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Snuffles 14's request - _ James and Lily talk to Harry about his behaviour with Ginny._

Too-bad-for-you's request - _Harry & Ginny's first real date._

Dedicated to Snuffles14 and Too-bad-for-you. Hope you guys like it! Enjoy!

**The First Date**

Harry gave his clothes another look. Instead of robes, Harry opted for simple muggle clothes; jeans and a top. He ran a hand through his hair, trying one more time to make the stubborn locks somewhat settle. Like usual, it was hopeless. He stood for a moment, staring past his reflection.

It had been almost three weeks since the whole Rodolphus fiasco. Since Rodolphus' funeral, Harry had only seen Ginny twice. The memory of the first meeting made Harry grin, his cheeks colouring a little, at being found by Arthur while fooling around with Ginny on her bed. He chuckled at his own embarrassment. It had taken Arthur and Molly almost ninety solid minutes to explain to both him and Ginny, why it was unacceptable for Harry to apparate into Ginny's bedroom. Today was actually a direct result of that conversation. Arthur and Molly had insisted that they had no problems with Harry dating Ginny, but Harry should do so in the appropriate manner. So Harry had gone to the Burrow yesterday, knocked on the door and asked Ginny out on a formal date. He couldn't get Ginny's surprised expression out of his mind. She had just stood there, at her front door, gaping at him until Harry waved a hand in front of her face.

Grinning at the memory, Harry sat on his bed, pulling his shoes on, when the knock sounded on his door. A wave of Harry's hand and the door clicked open. Lily peeked in. Her eyes widened in surprise and she pushed the door wider to step in. Behind her was James.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked. "Why aren't you dressed yet?"

Harry frowned at her.

"I am dressed."

Lily looked at him from top to bottom.

"You're wearing that?" she asked, her nose wrinkled in disapproval.

"Don't start, mum," Harry said with a sigh, "I look fine."

"Well, yes, of course you do, darling," Lily smiled, "but imagine how handsome you would look in the new robes I got you last week?"

Harry managed to stifle his groan.

"I can buy my own clothes," he said, "stop shopping for me."

Lily waved a hand in dismissal.

"You don't know what looks good on you."

Harry refrained from arguing and finished pulling on his shoes.

"Is that why you've come up here? To ridicule my fashion sense?"

"Why not?" James teased, walking in. "It gives your mum another reason to shop."

Lily gave him a playful glare and sat down at Harry's side. James took a seat at Harry's other side.

"Your dad and I are so happy that you're dating Ginny," Lily started. "We've known Molly and Arthur for years and we've watched Ginny grow up," she paused, "which is why we want to talk to you."

Harry looked from his mum to his dad, lost.

"About what?"

Lily gave James a pointed look. James turned to Harry.

"About the nature of relationships."

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?"

"I know that we're _years_ behind with this...talk, but," James took in a breath, "when two people really like each other, they may start feeling-"

"Are you for real?" Harry cut him off, "Dad, I'm _eighteen!"_ He stressed. "Even if no one told me, I'd have figured things out by now."

"No, no, I know that," James said, looking absolutely mortified at the idea of having the _talk_ with his fully grown son about the 'birds and the bees'. "I want to talk to you about the proper conduct with your girlfriend."

Harry looked from his dad to his mum.

"This has you written all over it," he accused.

Lily looked rather proud.

"It's important you understand boundaries when it comes to romantic relationships," she said. "Your previous behaviour suggests you don't yet possess the understanding."

"Mum," Harry groaned, "you gotta stop with this, I get it. No apparating into Ginny's bedroom. No lying in bed to talk. No sneaking off to Hogsmeade-" he caught himself in time.

"Frank already told us," Lily said dryly. "Can't say we were surprised."

Harry shifted in his seat.

"Point is, I get it. You don't have to get involved." He got up from the bed and walked over to get his jacket.

"We won't get involved," James said, standing up, "as long as you promise us one thing."

Harry turned around with a smirk.

"Let me guess; you're going to make me take an oath of abstinence?"

James smiled this time.

"No," he replied. "I just want you to promise us that you'll never hurt Ginny."

Harry looked surprised.

"Really? That it?" he asked, looking from one parent to the other.

Both nodded.

"Of course I won't hurt her," Harry replied.

"Good," James said, "because seeing what she's gone through this last year, I don't think she could handle any more mistreatment."

Harry's mood shifted. The mirth and amusement melted from him, replaced by stunned offence.

"What?" he asked.

"You know," Lily stood up to join James, "being dumped by you, ignored for months by you and to top it all off, almost being killed by someone who was out to get _you."_

Harry stared at his parents, his eyes wide and filled with disbelief.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Showing you what you don't want to see," Lily said. "Honey, we're your parents. The last thing we want, is to hurt you, in any way," she paused for a moment, "but you need to see things as they are. This last year, you and Ginny both went through a lot." She struggled to keep the pain out of her eyes, but she couldn't quite manage the task. "The last thing either of you need, is more heartbreak."

James walked over to Harry, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Treat Ginny with the respect she deserves," he said. "She's your girlfriend yes, but more importantly, she's your friend." He smiled. "She's been by your side, through the ups and the downs. Respect her wishes, give her the space and time she needs and above all, Harry, listen to her. If she's not ready for a step you want to take, you can't push her."

"You think I'd do that?" Harry asked, his annoyance and hurt was quickly turning into anger.

"No, I don't," James answered with a smile, "but as your dad, I need to remind you of things you already know."

"Allowing your desires to cloud your better judgement will destroy any relationship," Lily said, walking over to Harry. "That's all your dad and I want to say." She cupped Harry's cheek. "You both are young. Don't rush into anything that will cost you not only your relationship but your friendship too."

xxx

Ginny pushed the tiny backing into her earring and sat back, studying her reflection in the mirror. She looked nice in a simple white dress with some lace work, and a shiny white belt at her waist. She had borrowed her mum's silver earrings and pendant, the most expensive items her mum owned. Ginny brushed her hair behind her shoulder and gave herself another critical look.

The door clicked open and her mum peeked in. Ginny smiled at her mum's elated look.

"Oh, Ginny," Molly hurried inside. "You look beautiful, darling!"

Ginny got up, brushing a hand down her clothes.

"Thank-you, mum," she replied.

"Are you excited for your date?" she asked, walking closer to fix the belt, threading the end into the loops at the side.

"Yeah," Ginny smiled. "It's my first proper date with Harry," she bit her lip to stop laughing at herself. She had literally frozen on the spot when Harry had asked her out.

"Any idea where he's taking you?" Molly asked, and a hint of nervousness was apparent in her voice.

"No clue," Ginny said. "I'm guessing we'll go for dinner."

Molly looked up to meet Ginny's eyes.

"I expect you to behave like a proper lady, tonight."

"As opposed to me acting like what exactly?"

Molly gave her a stern eye.

"You know what I'm hinting at, Ginevra."

Ginny barely held back her annoyed frown. She hated that tone her mum took when saying her proper name.

"Don't worry, mum," she sighed. "I'll still be a virgin when I get back tonight."

Molly jerked up to look at her with wide eyes, full of indignation.

"Ginny!"

"What?" Ginny giggled. "That's what you wanted to hear, right?"

"This isn't funny!" Molly snapped.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Ginny said, "am I making you _uncomfortable?_" she stressed.

Molly stepped back, still glaring at her smirking girl.

"I find it just as insulting, mum, that you think I would do anything I'm not ready for."

Molly's expression softened.

"I'm just afraid you might be...coerced into thinking otherwise," she said.

Ginny's eyes widened.

"What? You think, Harry would...?" she didn't know whether to laugh or get angry. "Mum, Harry's not like that. He would never force me to do anything I didn't want to. He would always wait for my permission first."

"He came into your room without your permission," Molly pointed out.

Ginny threw up her hands.

"For Merlin's sake! That was _one_ time, and besides, he knew I wouldn't have a problem with him coming into my room."

Molly's eyes narrowed.

"Well, you should have a problem," she said. "I raised you to have a problem with boys apparating into your room at night."

"At night?" Ginny frowned, "It was three in the afternoon!"

"You know what I mean," Molly said, irritated. "The point is, Harry is not like normal boys and even though I feel for him and for everything he's gone through, that doesn't mean I can ignore his brash behaviour and-"

"Mum," Ginny cut across her, moving closer to hold onto her hands. "Harry is how he is, but he's not like that with his family and friends and...me." She met her mum's eyes. "He listens to me and respects what I ask of him. I've already told him that I'm not ready for anything...you know, of that nature yet and he was fine with it."

Molly stared at her.

"Really?" she asked.

Ginny smiled and nodded.

"Really. You don't have to worry. You raised me right."

Molly reached out to cup both Ginny's cheeks.

"I'm sorry, Ginny. It's just, you're my only daughter and...and the thought of you getting hurt-"

"I know," Ginny said, "I know, mum, but you don't have to worry. I'm not going to get hurt, not when I'm with Harry."

xxx

It was just a little after six in the evening when Harry arrived at the Burrow. He had barely made it half way down the path when the door opened to Ron's grinning face.

"Alright, Harry?" he beamed. "You're just in time for dinner."

Harry smiled at him.

"Very funny, Ron."

"No, seriously." Ron moved out of the way to show Harry the kitchen table set for dinner. "You're just in time."

Harry walked into the kitchen, eyeing the fully laden table with disbelief.

"When I asked Ginny out for dinner, I meant _out_, as in out of here."

Ron chuckled.

"I know. So does Ginny. It's my mum who has other ideas."

Mrs Weasley came into the kitchen, carrying two large bottles of wine.

"Oh, Harry dear!" she hurried over after placing the bottles down. "How are you?"

"Fine," Harry replied. "Is Ginny ready?"

"She'll be right down," Molly smiled and walked over to the oven to bring out a freshly baked pumpkin pie. "Doesn't that smell simply wonderful?" she asked.

Ron sniggered.

"She's trying her best," he whispered over to Harry.

"Oh, Harry dear, I have an idea!" she said, depositing the pie onto a serving plate. "Why don't you and Ginny stay for dinner?"

"Oh, what a great, random, clearly-not-preconceived idea, mum," Ron said. "How about it, Harry? Stay?"

Harry gave him a look.

"You're enjoying this a little too much."

"Take what you can," Ron said, with a grin.

Harry turned to face Molly.

"No, Mrs Weasley, I wouldn't want to impose."

"Oh rubbish," Molly laughed. "I have more than enough and it's a real feast."

"I can see that," Harry said, glancing at the some fifteen dishes across the scrubbed table, "but I already have dinner plans."

"These fancy restaurants don't know the first thing about good food," Molly stated.

"I'm not taking Ginny to a fancy restaurant," Harry replied.

"Oh? So where are you taking me?" Ginny asked.

Harry turned to the door, to see Ginny standing, smiling at him. For a moment, Harry did nothing but stare at her. Ginny walked over, not even looking at the table that was practically groaning under the strain of various dishes. She ignored her mum and brother, going onto her tiptoes to give Harry a light quick kiss. When she pulled away, she saw Harry's bright green eyes gleam with pleasure. She stepped back, but not too far from his arms.

"So, where are we going for our magical first date?"

Harry chuckled.

"Somewhere memorable," he said.

Ginny lifted an eyebrow.

"I'm intrigued."

"Good," Harry replied. "Just what I want."

They turned as one, back to Molly, who was smiling at them, a little teary-eyed.

"See you, mum," Ginny waved.

This time, Molly didn't put up a fight. She wiped her eyes and smiled at her daughter.

"Have her home before ten," she instructed Harry. 'Keep her safe,' went unsaid but not unheard. Harry nodded at her, agreeing to the curfew and the unspoken plea.

xxx

Harry and Ginny walked past the gate, hand in hand.

"So, where are we going?" Ginny asked.

Harry gave her a sideways glance.

"You'll see," he replied. He looked over his shoulder to see Mrs Weasley in the window, watching them. "Your mum seems weirder than usual, today."

"You're lucky dad wasn't home. He would have been...hey!" she turned to him. "Don't call my mum weird!"

"Why not?" Harry asked. "You don't think she's weird?"

"I think she's my _mum_," Ginny pointed out. "No matter what, you don't get to call her names."

"I wasn't," Harry laughed, "I just meant she was acting a little strange, what with the overcooking and pushing for us to stay for dinner."

"She did what?" Ginny asked, looking surprised. "When did she say that?"

"The minute I arrived to get you," Harry replied.

Ginny shook her head.

"She's just nervous about us going out."

Harry's expression changed and he nodded stiffly.

"Right, yeah. I can see her concern."

Ginny saw the guilt weigh Harry down. She hated it, how Harry so easily admitted he was the worst person around. She tightened her hand around Harry's.

"She was afraid you would steal my virtue."

Harry's head snapped up and he turned to look at her.

"What?"

Ginny giggled.

"What? Can you blame her? Every person either of us know, has found us making out. I'm surprised mum and dad even let me go out alone with you."

Harry's mischief returned and he smirked.

"I believe you were the one jumping my bones ninety percent of the time."

"Pfft, you wish, Potter," Ginny teased.

They reached the end of the road and Harry stopped, turning to face Ginny.

"I want to take you somewhere today," he said, "but after your mum's concern and seeing all that food she prepared, I don't know if this is such a good idea."

"Don't worry about that," Ginny said. "This is our first official date." She smiled. "Just do what it is _you_ want to do."

Harry smiled and held her closer.

"All I wanna do, is this." He leaned down and kissed her.

The ground beneath Ginny's feet moved and vaguely, in some part of her mind, she knew she was apparating but she was so lost in Harry's kiss, she barely acknowledged it. When Harry ended the kiss, Ginny's eyes fluttered open to take in her surroundings. They were in a corridor, with identical doors lined down both sides. Ginny looked around at the strangely familiar place. When she met Harry's eyes, he was smiling at her.

"D'you recognise the place?" he asked.

Ginny gave it another sweeping glance.

"It is familiar," she said, "but I can't seem to place it."

"Well then," Harry reached for the handle of the door they were standing before, "maybe this will jog your memory."

He opened the door and Ginny stood still, staring at the sight with big brown eyes. Slowly, she stepped forward and into the room, the same room she had spent a whole night attending to a wounded and feverish Harry. She looked over to see the bed sitting in one corner; the very same bed she had fallen into an exhausted sleep on, next to Harry. The small refrigerator sat where it was; from which she had collected ice to help reduce Harry's dangerously high fever. She turned to look at Harry in stunned surprise. He was leaning against the door, watching her reaction.

"I spent ages, trying to figure out where to take you for our first date," he said, straightening up. "I thought about all the best restaurants and dance clubs, but somehow, they didn't seem right." He glanced over at the bed before a small smile came to his face. "I figured we should come back to the first place we slept together."

"We didn't sleep together," Ginny objected weakly, her surprise made her voice quieter, "we fell asleep together."

Harry chuckled, coming to stand before her. He reached out to brush her hair away from her forehead, just as he had done that morning, waking up and finding her lying next to him.

"I know that I was, well, a bit of a dick then."

"Why are you using past tense?" Ginny asked, then smiled at Harry rolling his eyes.

"Fine, I was an even bigger dick then. I told you to leave me alone and refused your help."

Ginny remembered that all too well. His hissed words, _'I'm not an invalid!' _rang in her head.

"I remember," she said.

"But what you don't know, is that after you left, I felt so completely alone, it took even me by surprise." Harry said. "You had only gone out to get food, but I didn't know that. I told you to leave and you did. I thought you were gone for good." He held her gaze, so Ginny could see the sincerity shine in his eyes. "It's crazy, right? I had left my family, left those I _thought_ were my family, left everyone behind but it was when _you_ left me for a few minutes, I felt truly alone."

Ginny didn't say anything, she honestly couldn't get anything out past the lump that was growing at the back of her throat.

Harry smiled at her.

"So I thought, for our first date, I'd take you back to the place I first realised, how lonely I was without you."

Ginny let out a chocked laugh, tears welling in her eyes.

She leaned up to kiss him, her gratitude too great to put into words. When they finally pulled away, Harry walked over to the fridge and opened the door. He pulled out two items.

"Oh God," Ginny laughed, wiping at her eyes. "You actually remember that too?"

Harry walked over with the cup of soup in one hand and a packet of sandwiches in the other.

"It was the first thing I had ate in days. Of course I remember." He handed Ginny the sandwiches and waved a hand over his cup, warming the soup. "Don't worry, there's more food in the fridge and ice cream in the freezer," Harry said. "I filled it up before coming to get you. Of course, nothing in there is as fancy as what your mum made-"

"I don't care," Ginny cut him off. "I don't care what it is we're having, as long as we're having it together."

Kicking off their shoes, Harry and Ginny sat cross-legged on the bed, eating their way through all the food Harry had packed into the motel room's refrigerator. They talked about the past, when the future seemed so bleak for Harry, before coming to the topic of the future, where now nothing seemed impossible.


End file.
